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WAVERLY 

A  STUDY 

IN  NEIGHBORHOOD 
CONSERVATION 


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San  Francisco,  California 
2007 


WAVERLY 


A  STUDY  IN 
NEIGHBORHOOD 
CONSERVATION 


FEDERAL  HOME  LOAN  BANK  BOARD 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

1940 


Letter  of  Transmittal 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  1,  1940. 

To  THE  FEDERAL  HOME  LOAN  BANK  BOARD. 

JOHN  H.  FAHEY,  Chairman. 

T.  D.  WEBB,  Vice  Chairman. 

FRED  W.  CATLETT. 

DR.  W.  H.  HUSBAND. 

FRANK  W.  HANCOCK,  Jr. 

The  following  report  incorporates  the  data  and  conclusions  developed  thus 
far  in  the  Waverly  Community  Conservation  Test  in  the  city  of  Baltimore, 
which  you  recently  authorized. 

It  is  hoped  that  this  report  will  not  only  supply  valuable  information  on  the 
major  underlying  causes  of  structural  and  economic  blight  in  Waverly,  but  will 
also  provide  a  general  remedy  which  can  be  successfully  applied  to  similar 
urban  problems  throughout  the  United  States. 

The  conservation  of  property  values  to  prevent  the  vast  losses  that  now 
result  from  neighborhood  decay,  and  the  rehabilitation  of  areas  which  are 
already  threatened  with  obsolescence,  depend  on  informed  and  energetic  local 
leadership.  In  this  report,  prepared  under  my  direction  by  Arthur  Goodwillie 
as  Economic  Assistant,  we  have  endeavored  to  make  available  to  that  leader- 
ship, in  the  simplest  form,  vital  data  from  a  highly  important  but  virtually 
unexplored  field.  I  believe  it  will  constitute  a  valuable  addition  totheexisting 
library  on  urban  housing. 

DONALD  H.  McNEAL, 
Deputy  General  Manager, 
Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation. 


HI 


Contents 


Page 
Letter  of  Transmittal in 

Foreword vin 

Frontispiece x 

The  Problem  of  Urban  Decay 1 

Growth — Increase  retarded — Cost  of  urban  blight — Municipal 
services — Disease — Crime . 

Decay  or  Preservation 3 

Life  cycle — Neighborhood  decline — A  national  obligation — Demo- 
lition, a  surgical  operation — Conservation,  a  preventive  remedy- 
Not  a  cure-all — Leadership  and  cooperation. 

Federal  Home  Loan  Bank  Board 6 

Its  interest — Savings  and  loan  institutions — Home  Owners'  Loan 
Corporation — Value  of  F.  H.  L.  B.  B.  security — H.  0.  L.  C.  recondi- 
tioning— Graded  area  maps. 

The  Waverly  Area 8 

Reasons  for  selection — Scope  of  survey — Coverage — Plat  and 
population — Depreciation — Environs — Land  tenure. 

Social  Status 14 

Population,  income,  occupation — Health — Population  density- 
Churches  and  schools — Colleges  and  hospitals — Neighborhood 
organizations — Relief — Parks  and  playgrounds — Streets  and  alleys — 
Traffic  circulation — Parking — Gas,  water,  electricity,  and  sewers — 
Street  lighting — Fire  protection — Planting  and  landscaping — 
Transportation — Commercial. 

Economic  Status 20 

Tax  rate — Assessed  value — Tax  delinquence — F.  H.  A.  area  grad- 
ing— Mortgage  status — Foreclosures — H.  0.  L.  C.  holdings  in 
Waverly — Appraised  value — Vacancies — Rent  scale — For  sale  and 
for  rent — Comparative  levels — Market — New  construction. 

Structural  Status 26 

Neighborhood  development — Gradual  coordination — Land  use — 
Residential  structures — Exterior  material — Commercial  structures. 

Structural  Condition ,          31 

Definition — Infiltration — One-family,  detached  and  semi-detached 
homes — Row  houses — Two-family,  two-story  houses — Multiple  fam- 
ily structures — Placement. 


Pace 


Structural  Rehabilitation. 


Detached  and  semi-detached  houses— Profit — Detailed  studies — 
Examples — Row  houses — Prompt  rehabilitation  necessary — Divi- 
sional study — H.  O.  L.  C.  policy — Interior  playgrounds. 

Zoning 

Ordinance — Zoning  to  control  use-height  and  population  density- 
Zoning  to  control  commercial  use — Zoning  adjustments. 

Street  Adjustments 

Irregular  street  pattern — Recommended  changes — Cost — Pay- 
ment— Area  occupied— Detailed  description,  justification,  and  esti- 
mate— Vcnable  Avenue — Frisby  Street. 


Rehabilitation  Financing. 


Conclusions 

Neighborhood  decline  through  movement  toward  the  urban  rim — 
Neighborhood  decline  through  industrial  decentralization — Con- 
servation through  cooperation — Institutional  responsibility — Ideal 
test  conditions — Dominant  factors — Comparison  with  R.  P.  I.  sur- 
vey findings — Infection — Downward  trend  obscured — Cross-cur- 
rents— Survey  influence — Zoning  adjustment — Overzoning  in  Wav- 
erly — Street  pattern  adjustment — The  Master  Plan — Community 
organization — Mobilized  neighborhood  effort — Waverly  Conserva- 
tion League — Municipal  conservation  department — Beneficial  re- 
strictions— Neighborhood  conservation  financing. 


Summary . 


APPENDIX 
A.  Waverly — District  A 

Divisional  study — District  subdivision — Division  6  omitted — -Exte- 
rior materials. 

Taxes. — Assessed  value — Tax  delinquence — Tax  sales — Tax  delin- 
quence,  encumbrances,  repairs,  and  age — Tax  delinquence  and 
ground  ownership. 

Reconditioning. — Structural  condition — Reproduction  value — Distri- 
bution of  repair  cost  Reconditioned  value  Appraised  and 
assessed  values. 

Occupancy. — Owners  and  tenants — Duration  of  ownership — Dura- 
tion of  tenancy — Owner-tenant  mobility — Occupancy  and  struc- 
tural age — Room  ratios — Occupancy  and  mortgage  status — For 
sale  and  rent — Title  transfers — Multiple  sales — Latest  sale — 
Sales  frequency  and  maintenance — Sales  frequency  and  mortgage 
status — Sales  frequency  and  age. 

Encumbrances. — Mortgage  status — Mortgage  holders — Mortgage 
status  and  appraised  value — Mortgage  status  and  recondition- 
ing—Mortgage status  and  age — Foreclosures. 


41 


46 


69 


VI 


Psge 

B.  Financing  Sources 84 

First-mortgage  investors — F.  H.  A.  Title  II — Local  building  and  loan 
associations — F.  H.  A.  Title  I — Seven  loan  sources — Federal  saving 
and  loan  associations — State-chartered  associations — Commercial 
banks — Personal  loan  banks — Commercial  credit  discount  com- 
panies— Insurance  companies — Manufacturers'  finance  units — 
Section  207  of  the  National  Housing  Act. 

C.  Proposed  Legislation 87 

Neighborhood  Improvement  Act — Urban  Redevelopment  Corpora- 
tions Act. 

D.  Street  Adjustments 90 

Street  openings — Paving  and  widening — Conversion — Closing. 


VII 


Foreword 


Too  Jong  have  our  city  slums  been  regarded  as  an 
inescapable  and  permanent  urban  liability.  In  quite 
recent  years,  however,  determined  efforts  have  been 
made  to  reduce  the  terrific  wastage  which  they  cause. 
With  governmental  cooperation,  remedial  treatment 
is  now  being  applied  to  many  of  them.  But  since  that 
treatment  requires  the  total  demolition  of  great  urban 
areas  and  the  construction  of  new  housing  for  the  vast 
population  thus  displaced,  its  application  will  neces- 
sarily be  slow  and  costly. 

Meanwhile,  the  problem  of  neighborhood  blight — 
that  slow  process  which  eventually  produces  the  slum, 
either  through  the  encroachment  of  outside  substandard 
areas  or  the  development  of  internal  structural  and 
social  decay — has  largely  been  ignored.  Blight  starts 
with  the  neglect  of  a  single  property  and  the  occupance 
of  that  property  by  a  family  which  has  a  living  standard 
below  that  of  the  balance  of  the  community.  Grad- 
ually it  begins  to  spread;  slowly  it  widens  and  deepens; 
finally,  from  this  single  point  of  infection,  it  produces 
a  full-blown  slum.  Each  year  community  corrosion 
thus  takes  a  terrific  national  toll  in  investment  and 
human  values,  but  the  general  attitude  toward  it — 
perhaps  because  of  its  almost  imperceptible  advance 
— has  always  been  one  of  patient  acquiescence  in  a 
natural  but  impersonal  phenomenon,  which  cannot  be 
controlled  but  need  not  be  feared. 

During  the  course  of  its  vast  operations,  the  Federal 
Home  Loan  Bank  Board  has  gathered  a  large  volume 
of  data  on  the  trend  of  residential  neighborhoods  in 
some  230  cities  in  the  United  States  and  has  incorpo- 
rated this  information  in  detailed,  confidential  "secur- 
ity area  maps."  Based  on  exhaustive  studies,  and 
supplemented  by  local  investigation,  they  clearly  indi- 
cate the  alarming  extent  to  which  neighborhood  decay 
has  affected  America's  cities.  Could  they  examine 
these  maps,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  home  owners, 
who  today  believe  that  their  properties  are  safe  from 
that  malady  which  has  destroyed  the  savings  of  so 
many  other  thousands  in  the  past,  would  be  dismayed 
to  realize  that  potential  blight  and  ultimate  loss  even 
now  overhang  their  dwellings. 

The  combined  value  of  the  residential  real  estate  in 
which  the  Federal  Home  Loan  Bank  Board — through 
its  agencies  and  their  member  institutions —  is  directly 
interested,  aggregates  some  seven  billion  dollars.  Be- 
cause this  vast  sum  represents  the  savings  of  millions 
of  thrifty  Americans  and  because  of  the  potential  threat 


to  the  Nation's  housing  standards,  the  Board  is  deeply 
concerned  with  the  terrific  eventual  losses  which  will 
be  occasioned  by  neighborhood  blight,  decay,  and  final 
slum  development,  if  that  insidious  process  is  not  halted. 
It  has,  therefore,  long  sought  a  simple  and  practical 
preventive  program  by  means  of  which  vigilant  groups 
of  home  owners  can  reverse  community  disintegration 
before  it  attains  a  definitely  destructive  momentum. 

The  following  pages  describe  a  test  conservation 
program  undertaken  for  this  purpose  in  the  Waverly 
area  of  Baltimore,  Md.  Waverly  is  not  a  hopelessly 
depressed  area.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  essentially 
sound  structurally,  economically,  and  socially.  It  is 
worth  preserving  and  it  can  be  preserved.  That  is  why 
it  was  chosen  for  this  test.  In  it,  the  Baltimore  Hous- 
ing Authority  acted  as  official  sponsor;  the  Works  Prog- 
ress Administration  conducted  a  survey  of  conditions 
and  needs ;  the  United  States  Housing  Authority  and  the 
Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation  contributed  the  nec- 
essary technical  services;  and  local  municipal  agencies 
and  civic  leaders  cooperated  in  each  step  of  the  project. 

In  no  way  intended  as  a  treatise  on  the  urban  slum, 
the  study  which  follows  touches  on  that  subject  only  to 
show  the  general  process  of  structural  and  social  decay 
which  must  be  controlled  if  future  slum  development  is 
to  be  halted.  It  then  proceeds  to  a  detailed  study  of 
the  Waverly  district  from  the  time  of  its  settlement  to 
the  present  day — its  growth,  its  values,  the  incipient 
blight  which  threatens  it  and  the  problems  that  arise 
from  that  threat;  and,  finally,  it  lays  down  a  pattern  by 
which  home  owners  in  Waverly — and  elsewhere  through- 
out the  country — may  safeguard  residential  values  of 
the  type  which  in  years  past,  through  neglect  and  de- 
cay, have  vanished  in  such  gigantic  volume. 

The  initial  work  has  been  done  and  a  prescription 
which  will  preserve  Waverly  as  an  urban  asset  has  been 
developed.  Its  future  now  depends  on  the  action  of 
its  residents.  If  they  fail  promptly  to  apply  the  pro- 
posed remedy,  disintegration,  gradual  though  it  may 
be,  is  inevitable.  If  they  make  energetic  and  continu- 
ous use  of  the  simple  formula  now  made  available  to 
them,  they  will  halt  the  danger  which  menaces  their 
community  and  will  long  conserve  it  as  a  stable  and 
desirable  home  neighborhood. 

The  survey  and  analysis  of  similar  small  home  areas 
elsewhere  will  not  always  produce  data  and  conclusions 
identical  with  those  developed  in  this  study.  The  de- 
tails of  each  case  and  the  exact  nature  of  the  mechanical, 


VIII 


promotional,  and  legal  measures  which  are  most  appro- 
priate to  its  treatment,  will  necessarily  vary  with  every 
community.  But  the  major,  underlying  problem — the 
cause  and  practical  treatment  of  neighborhood  disin- 
tegration— will  be  found  much  the  same  everywhere. 
Believing  that  the  operating  standards,  administra- 
tive methods,  and  financing  machinery  which  were 
evolved  in  connection  with  the  Waverly  Test  Pro- 


gram— and  much  of  the  data  and  conclusions  which 
stem  from  it — can  be  utilized  beyond  the  immediate 
area  in  which  they  originated,  the  Federal  Home  Loan 
Bank  Board  offers  this  book  not  only  as  a  record  of  the 
survey  and  planning  phase  of  the  Baltimore  project 
but  also  for  the  inspiration  and  guidance  of  other  urban 
communities  and  agencies  which  are  seeking  an  effec- 
tive preventive  remedy  for  their  slum  problems. 


IX 


' 


AIR  VIEW 
of  the 

WAVERLY  AREA 
Baltimore,  Md. 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


The  Problem  of  Urban  Decay 


GROWTH 

In  the  year  1800,  a  total  of  210,873  persons — or  4  per- 
cent of  tho  Nation's  entire  population — dwelt  in  the  six 
American  cities  which  then  had  a  population  of  8,000 
or  more.  By  1920,  there  were  46,304,640  people,  or  44 
percent  of  the  total  enumerated  in  the  census  of  that 
year,  living  in  the  924  American  urban  centers  having  a 
population  greater  than  8,000.  This  remarkable  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  cities  and  the  constantly 
accelerated  rate  of  their  population  growth  not  only 
wrought  many  significant  changes  in  the  mode  of  life, 
the  problems  and  the  aims  of  those  who  dwelt  within 
them,  but  also  made  exceedingly  difficult  the  production 
of  any  orderly  plan  for  the  extension  of  their  physical 
and  social  patterns. 

Urban  development,  rapidly  expanding  to  meet  the 
equally  rapidly  expanding  requirements  of  our  national 
economy,  was  often  forced.  Exuberant  vitality 
crowded  it  forward  under  tremendous  pressure.  Be- 
cause "America  was  ever  marching  onward,"  the  con- 
servation of  physical  resources,  already  created,  was 
frequently  ignored  or  wholly  forgotten  in  the  haste  to 
develop  new  wealth  and  novel  amenities  of  life.  Cheap 
and  abundant  building  sites  were  available  everywhere. 
Building  materials  and  equipment  were  improved  at 
an  astonishing  rate.  As  wealth  increased,  standards 
of  domestic  economy  changed  rapidly.  Swifter  and 
more  comfortable  forms  of  urban  and  interurban 
transportation  and  communication  were  developed. 
All  of  these  factors  invited  an  increasing  migration  to 
tho  fringe  of  the  urban  settlement  and,  as  advancing 
age  and  comparative  obsolescence  began  to  set  their 
mark  on  formerly  desirable  neighborhoods,  they  were 
quickly  and  lightly  abandoned  to  those  economically 
less  able  to  command  aU  that  is  most  desirable  in  the 
location  and  quality  of  their  homes. 

Thus  began  the  decline  which  so  frequently  produced 
urban  blight — for  while  America  was  growing,  it  was 
also  wasting  away. 

INCREASE  RETARDED 

More  recently  another  factor — the  accelerating  de- 
cline in  the  rate  of  national  population  increase — has 


tended  to  expedite  the  development  of  depressed  urban 
areas. 

Somewhat  vain,  perhaps,  over  the  remarkable  growth 
of  its  total  population,  the  Nation  has  failed  to  realize 
that  the  rate  of  its  increase  has  been  progressively 
slackening  during  the  past  half  century.  For  each 
decade  before  1860,  the  United  States  had  an  average 
population  growth  of  approximately  30  percent.  This 
fell  to  21  percent  for  the  10-year  period  ending  in  1900 
and  declined  to  15  percent  for  the  1920  decade.  When 
the  1940  census  is  completed,  it  is  anticipated  that  an 
increase  not  exceeding  8  percent  over  1930  will  be  shown. 

The  national  birth  rate,  which  was  37  per  1,000  in 
1875,  had  fallen  to  16.9  by  1935.  The  larger  cities  of  the 
country  are  now  reproducing  not  in  excess  of  70  percent 
of  their  replacement  needs  and  if  they  were,  henceforth, 
to  depend  solely  on  new  births  for  these  replacements, 
their  combined  populations,  a  few  generations  hence, 
would  stand  far  below  the  present  level.  Heretofore, 
the  effect  of  a  sharply  decreased  urban  birth  rate  has 
been,  to  a  great  extent,  offset  by  a  falling  death  rate, 
by  migration  from  the  farm  and  by  immigration  from 
abroad.  The  depression  and  Federal  legislation,  how- 
ever, largely  dried  up  both  of  the  two  last-named 
sources — and  indeed,  for  a  little  while,  actually  reversed 
the  farm-to-city  movement. 

For  the  first  time  in  our  national  history,  net  city 
and  suburban  population  is  not  increasing  rapidly  and 
such  growth  as  exists  is  at  the  urban  rim  and  not  at  its 
center.  This  fact  further  accentuates  the  problems 
incident  to  neighborhood  decay  and  will  serve  to 
increase  the  emphasis  which  any  prudent  housing 
program  will  place  on  the  maximum  possible  conser- 
vation of  those  resources  which  the  Nation  already 
possesses. 

COST  OF  URBAN  BLIGHT 

The  capital  loss  occasioned  by  community  disinte- 
gration is,  of  course,  apparent  to  the  most  casual 
observer.  Once  decay  sets  in,  property  values  gradu- 
ally decline  until,  finally,  they  reflect  only  such  income 
as  "man's  inhumanity  toward  man"  can  currently 
extract  through  postponed  repair,  overcrowding,  and 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


illegitimate  occupancy.  The  shrinkage  in  investment 
values  does  not,  however,  represent  the  entire  loss 
incident  to  neighborhood  disintegration.  The  per 
capita  cost  of  necessary  municipal  services,  such  as  fire 
and  police  protection,  sewers,  water  supply,  street 
lighting  and  pavement — the  cost  of  educational,  health 
and  hospital  service — and  the  cost  of  delinquency, 
immorality,  and  crime,  is  always  proportionately  greater 
in  the  slums  than  it  is  in  the  balance  of  a  given  urban 
area. 

The  annual  expense  for  fire  protection  in  Cleveland — 
to  cite  a  single  example  from  among  the  many  availa- 
ble— is  $17.50  per  capita  in  the  slums  and  $2.50  in  other 
parts  of  the  city;  the  cost  of  tuberculosis  control  is  $3 
for  each  slum  dweller  and  $1  for  residents  elsewhere; 
and  the  per  capita  expenditure  for  police  protection  in 
the  slums  is  $12  as  compared  with  $4  for  the  balance 
of  Cleveland. 

Everywhere,  expenditures  for  slum  maintenance  are 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  contribution  of  these 
deteriorated  urban  areas  to  the  general  support  of  city 
government  and  they  are  therefore  causing  an  enormous 
net  loss  of  public  revenue  throughout  the  country. 

MUNICIPAL  SERVICES 

The  heavy  cost  of  neighborhood  blight,  in  the  form 
of  shrinking  taxes  on  the  one  hand,  and  increased 
expenditures  on  the  other,  is  the  channel  through  which 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  income  of  every  city  in 
the  United  States,  over  50  years  old,  is  being  drained 
away.  Annual  tax  collections  in  a  Boston  area  recently 
amounted  to  $99,000,  against  an  estimated  cost  of 
$1,400,000  for  fire,  police,  health,  and  other  services. 
A  square  mile  in  Chicago,  during  a  recent  3-year  period, 


returned  $586,000  in  taxes,  while  the  city's  outlay  for 
public  services  was  estimated  at  $3,200,000. 

In  like  manner,  blight  largely  increases  the  unpro- 
ductive maintenance  and  operating  cost  of  privately 
owned  utilities  and  consequently  swells  the  cost  of 
these  services  to  the  consumer  at  large. 

DISEASE 

The  direct  and  indirect  cost  of  illness  in  the  Unitec 
States  is  tremendous,  and  by  far  the  larger  share  of 
this  wastage  originates  in  our  city  slums. 

Infant  mortality  is,  on  the  average,  2%  times  higher 
in  blighted  areas  than  in  other  urban  districts.  When- 
ever an  epidemic  threatens,  it  is  the  slum  sections 
which  first  engage  the  attention  of  health  authorities. 
All  communicable  diseases  such  as  measles,  scarlet  fever, 
infantile  paralysis,  and  the  venereal  diseases,  arc  largely 
concentrated  in  these  districts  and  now  constitute  the 
chief  problem  of  organized  municipal  health  control. 

CRIME 

Blighted  urban  neighborhoods  provide  the  breeding 
ground  for  dependence,  degradation,  and  crime.  In- 
variably, that  comparatively  small  part  of  the  city's 
population  which  lives  within  these  districts  produces 
much  the  largest  percentage  of  juvenile  delinquent  and 
adult  criminal  convictions.  In  New  York  City,  33 
percent  of  all  felonious  crimes  come  from  that  10 
percent  of  the  population  which  is  located  in  depreciated 
neighborhoods.  In  Chicago,  25  percent  of  all  juvenile 
delinquency  originates  in  6  percent  of  that  city's  area 
and  among  1 1  percent  of  its  population.  In  Cleveland, 
47  percent  of  all  delinquencies  come  from  26  percent  of 
its  population. 


I 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


Decay  or  Preservation 


LIFE  CYCLE 

Integration  and  disintegration  is  a  never  ending 
cycle  that  is  common  alike  to  animate  and  to  inani- 
mate matter.  In  this  respect,  the  dwellings  which 
compose  an  urban  residential  community  constitute  a 
highly  complex  structural  organism  that  resembles  the 
human  body  in  many  ways.  The  constant  cycle  of 
birth,  life,  and  death  is  inevitable  in  both,  but  while 
we  recognize  that  proper  preventive  and  curative  treat- 
ment will  prolong  the  usefulness  and  postpone  the 
final  decay  of  animate  life,  we  have  always  considered 
the  constantly  accelerating  disintegration  of  the  urban 
neighborhood  to  be  an  inescapable  process  which  more 
or  less  superficial  repair,  at  increasing  intervals,  might 
momentarily  delay  but  could  not  long  halt.  And  so 
we  have  permitted  our  urban  areas  to  decline,  almost 
unchecked,  and  eventually  to  become  serious  social 
and  economic  liabilities  both  to  the  cities  directly  con- 
cerned and  to  the  Nation  as  a  whole. 

In  its  life  cycle,  the  residential  area  begins  with  the 
need  of  a  growing  city  for  additional  homes  and  the 
consequent  development  of  a  new  urban  or  suburban 
community  reflecting  all  that  is  then  modern  in  con- 
struction, sanitation,  and  mechanical  equipment.  It 
then  passes  through  a  considerable  and  often  compara- 
tively long  period  of  normal  use,  marked  by  reasonable 
maintenance.  It  next  begins  to  suffer  from  advancing 
age,  accelerating  obsolescence,  and  structural  neglect. 
As  the  process  of  decay  continues,  investment  and  rent 
values  gradually  fall;  since  these  values  no  longer 
justify  proper  maintenance,  repairs  are  progressively 
scaled  down  or  are  wholly  neglected;  one  by  one  indi- 
vidual residential  units — and  presently  the  district  as 
a  whole — show  marked  evidence  of  important  deteri- 
oration. And  finally  the  district  emerges  as  a  slum 
area,  wherein  depreciated  property  values  reflect  a 
tremendous  investment  loss  and  physical  structures 
have  become  unfit  for  decent  human  habitation,  con- 
tributing directly  and  progressively  to  the  degradation 
of  those  unfortunates  whose  lack  of  means  compel 
them  to  live  within  boundaries  where  squalor,  ignorance, 
dependence,  disease,  corruption,  and  crime  are  born, 
flourish,  and  reach  full  maturity. 


Age  is  not  alone  responsible  for  this  deplorable  last 
chapter,  however. 

NEIGHBORHOOD  DECLINE 

For  both  sentimental  and  economic  reasons,  the 
average  American  family  is  reluctant  to  change  its 
place  of  residence  and,  despite  the  counter  attraction 
of  newer  settlements  on  the  urban  fringe  and  the  com- 
parative convenience  and  mobility  of  apartment  life, 
longest  maintains  its  home  where  community  standards 
longest  remain  unimpaired.  But  once  an  older  neigh- 
borhood commences  actively  to  decline  socially  and 
economically,  home  owners  with  growing  incomes  and 
increasing  families  gradually  surrender  it  to  those  who 
must  live  on  a  relatively  lower  economic  scale.  The 
number  of  old  housing  units  throughout  the  country 
which  each  year  thus  cross  the  line  into  the  substandard 
class,  greatly  exceeds  the  number  of  new  units  con- 
structed during  the  same  period,  until  now,  as  disclosed 
by  a  recent  national  survey,  one-sixth  of  the  urban 
dwelling  units  in  the  United  States  have  reached  that 
condition  of  aggravated  obsolescence  which  renders 
them  unfit  for  decent  habitation. 

A  NATIONAL  OBLIGATION 

Provision  for  the  proper  housing  of  the  whole  Ameri- 
can people  is  now  an  accepted  national  social  obligation. 
Numerous  remedies  for  the  evil  of  urban  blight  have 
been  suggested  and  some  of  them  have  been  applied 
in  comparatively  small  doses.  In  a  few  instances, 
wealthy  individuals  or  endowed  foundations  have  built 
and  successfully  operated  relatively  low  rental  "garden 
apartment"  groups  for  low  income  families.  An  occa- 
sional socially  minded  employer  has  provided  adequate, 
sanitary,  and  sometimes  attractive  "model  homes"  for 
his  workers  on  a  moderate  rental  scale.  A  small 
number  of  limited  dividend  corporations  have  offered 
modern  facilities  at  comparatively  low  rent.  In  recent 
years  many  municipalities,  acting  under  their  police 
powers,  have  demolished  unsanitary  and  dangerous 
buildings,  sometimes  over  considerable  areas,  but  usu- 
ally with  emphasis  on  structural  decadence  rather  than 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


on  the  morally  and  physically  unhealthy  conditions 
created  by  neighborhood  deterioration — and  usually, 
also,  with  little  or  no  effort  to  rehouse  the  families 
thus  displaced.  State  legislation,  providing  for  the 
creation  of  neighborhood  improvement  and  redevel- 
opment units i  in  established  communities,  is  being 
sought. 

And,  finally,  the  Government  has  recently  embarked 
upon  a  national  housing  program  which  embraces 
(1)  Federal  assistance  primarily  for  the  middle  income 
group,  through  the  insurance  of  mortgages  which  will 
finance  new  private  construction  in  select  residential 
areas,  and  (2)  slum  clearance  and  subsidized  building 
for  low  income  families. 

DEMOLITION,  A  SURGICAL  OPERATION 

Whether  our  slum  areas,  after  they  have  been  cleared, 
are  to  be  used  as  sites  for  new  housing  development  or 
for  industries,  warehouses,  parks,  playgrounds,  or  cen- 
trally located  airplane  landing  fields,  or  are  just  to  be 
left  vacant,  is  a  question  which  must  be  determined  by 
the  functional  fitness  of  each  such  district. 

In  any  case,  five  facts  are  evident  to  even  the  casual 
student  of  urban  problems: 

(a)  A  substantial  portion  of  our  urban  population  dwells  in 
inadequate  and  substandard  buildings  and  in  neighborhoods  that 
are  destructive  of  wholesome  family  life,  are  injurious  to  health 
and  are  conducive  to  delinquency  and  crime. 

(6)  Neither  public  nor  private  enterprise  has  as  yet  found  a 
way  to  produce  a  sufficient  and  reasonably  immediate  supply  of 
decent  housing  for  this  lower  income  group. 

(c)  Whatever  the  eventual  remedy  for  the  malady  of  fully 
developed  urban  decay,  the  cure  will  necessarily  be  exceedingly 
slow,  involving,  first,  the  equivalent  of  a  costly  major  surgical 
operation  to  remove  these  diseased  areas  from  the  body  of  our 
urban  communities  and,  second,  a  tremendous  rebuilding  pro- 
gram requiring  the  expenditure  of  many  billions  of  dollars. 

(<J)  The  Government's  program,  which  has  heretofore  con- 
cerned itself  largely  with  the  stimulation  of  new  construction,  is 
still  incomplete,  inasmuch  as  it  has  left  the  preservation  of 
existing  standard  housing  virtually  untouched. 

(e)  A  vast  number  of  older  structures  throughout  the  country 
still  provide  all  of  the  decencies  and  some  of  the  luxuries  of  life, 
but,  at  their  physical,  economic,  and  social  foundations,  the 
sinister  and  destructive  forces  of  age,  obsolescence,  and  decay 
are  continuously  at  work. 

Because  property  owners  in  our  older  communities 
have  been  but  dimly  aware  that  neighborhood  decay 
can  be  definitely  arrested  and  even  reversed  and  be- 
cause, also,  the  funds  and  technical  advice  required  to 
produce  a  working  pattern  for  that  purpose  have  not 
been  readily  available  to  them,  the  history  of  our 
American  cities  shows  little  or  no  effective  effort  to 
delay,  in  its  intermediate  period,  what  has  too  gener- 
ally been  considered  the  inevitable  cycle  of  urban 
birth,  life,  and  death.  Had  this  not  been  true,  at  least 

'  For  text  of  the  proposed  "Neighborhood  Improvement  Act,"  and  analysis  of 
the  N.  Y.  "Urban  Hedevelopment  Corporations  Act,"  see  Appendix  C. 


a  large  number  of  the  3,000,000  urban  dwellings  whicl 
a  committee  of  the  United  States  Senate  recently  classi- 
fied as  unfit  for  decent  human  habitation,  would  not 
now  be  in  a  condition  that  menaces  the  social  and  phys- 
ical well-being  of  their  tenants  and  necessitates  an 
expenditure  for  municipal  services  out  of  all  proportion 
to  their  tax  contributions. 

With  the  tremendous  losses  which  this  wastage  en- 
tails— with  the  alternatives  for  the  clearance  and  recon- 
struction of  the  core  of  so  many  of  our  cities  through 
private  building  enterprise  or  Government  loans  and 
subsidies — and  with  the  relative  social  and  economic 
consequences,  a  generation  or  two  hence,  of  the  adop- 
tion of  one  or  more  of  them — this  discussion  is  con- 
cerned only  insofar  as  it  is  thus  provided  with  an 
opportunity  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  costly  major 
surgical  operation  which  must  presently  be  performed 
on  so  many  urban  communities  could  frequently  have 
been  avoided  by  the  earlier  application  of  a  compara- 
tively inexpensive  preventive  remedy. 

CONSERVATION,  A  PREVENTIVE  REMEDY 

The  opportunity  for  sober  reflection  which  was 
afforded  by  the  depression,  has  helped  make  it  clear 
that  in  more  than  a  geographical  sense  are  our  old 
frontiers  gone.  No  longer  will  growth  be  measured  in 
terms  of  a  restless  people,  pushing  ever  westward  and 
scoring  striking  increases  in  population  and  material 
wealth.  Population  growth  is  slowing  down;  the  influx 
of  foreign  born  emigrants  has  been  sharply  restricted; 
the  exuberant  period  of  territorial  and  economic  ex- 
pansion is  behind  us.  An  increasing  effort  must  now 
be  made  to  consolidate  our  material  and  social  gains 
and  to  conserve  our  economic  and  human  resources, 
and  stronger  accent  must  be  placed  on  the  develop- 
ment of  maximum  benefits  from  what  we  already 
possess. 

Near  the  top  of  the  list  of  existing  values  stand  our 
older  established  so  called  "small  home"  urban  neigh- 
borhoods which,  though  still  sound,  worthy  of  preser- 
vation and  capable  of  many  years  of  normal  use  if 
properly  maintained,  are  nevertheless  beginning  to 
indicate  the  presence  of  the  poisonous  seed  of  blight 
and  decay. 

NOT  A  CURE-ALL 

It  is  a  fact — now  slowly  being  recognized  by  housing 
economists — that  just  as  the  application  of  curative 
remedies  will  preserve  the  vigor  and  delay  the  eventual 
death  of  the  human  body,  so  can  definite  preventive 
measures  be  taken,  in  the  case  of  the  urban  community, 
measurably  to  extend  its  period  of  usefulness  and  long 
postpone  its  final  disintegration.  These  remedies  will 
not  serve  to  rejuvenate  or  perpetuate  a  district  whose 
physical  structures  and  equipment  are  in  so  advanced 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


a  stage  of  deterioration  as  to  be  unfit  for  normal  use. 
Usually,  the  only  cure  for  an  area  of  that  type  is  com- 
plete demolition  and  subsequent  replanning.2  The 
proposed  preventive  treatment  is  designed,  rather,  for 
those  older  neighborhoods  which  have  not  yet  ap- 
proached slum  status  but  in  which  the  sinister  effects 
of  age  and  obsolescence  are  beginning  to  gain  so  dis- 
ruptive a  momentum  that — unless  their  present  chart 
line  is  definitely  improved — they  will  eventually  be 
carried  below  the  limit  of  normal  usefulness  and  beyond 
rescue,  by  either  individual  or  collective  effort. 

The  natural  tendency  of  these  neighborhoods  to  de- 
cline in  attractiveness  and  economic  value  cannot  be 
wholly  and  forever  checked  and  corrected,  but  trends 
can  long  be  controlled  and  serious  general  disintegra- 
tion be  almost  indefinitely  postponed.  Rarely  does 
such  a  residential  district  develop  into  a  slum  because 
of  factors  beyond  the  control  of  those  who  live  in  it. 
Decay  is  usually  due  to  the  fatalistic  attitude  of  the 
whole  body  of  property  owners  themselves.  It  begins 
with  one  house  and  will  halt  if  and  when  all  home 
owners  concerned,  each  for  his  own  best  interest,  deter- 
mine that  blight  shall  extend  no  farther. 

Obviously,  when  a  residential  area  is  needed  for  com- 
mercial purposes,  it  must  give  way.  That  is  inevitable 
and  is  not  a  matter  for  concern,  since  property  owners 
will  be  fully  recompensed  as  the  area  develops  into  a 
business  district.  But,  except  in  those  sections  where 
early  transition  to  commercial  use  is  clearly  indicated, 
coordinated  and  properly  directed  neighborhood  action 
will  practically  always  serve  long  to  postpone  serious 
decline  and,  by  so  doing,  will  preserve  the  integrity  of 
family  life,  will  maintain  the  community's  character 

'  Hut  notable  exceptions  are  furnished  by  the  recent  rejuvenation  of  derelict  stmc- 

!ui:i!  I'litui^  in  1'hikidelpliia  and  Indianapolis. 


and  standards,  will  save  much  that  is  valuable  in  its 
economic  resources,  and  will  long  continue  it  as  a  civic 
asset. 

LEADERSHIP  AND  COOPERATION 

For  maximum  and  assured  success,  action  must  be 
undertaken  as  a  united  community  enterprise,  based  on 
a  broad,  carefully  planned  and  therefore  relatively 
costly  pattern,  which  embraces  the  district  as  a  whole 
and  each  dwelling  in  it.  If  it  is  to  be  genuinely  effec- 
tive, this  pattern  must  be  developed  under  experienced 
technical  guidance;  must  include  detailed  recommen- 
dations for  the  repair,  modernization,  and  embellish- 
ment, by  the  owners,  of  all  residential  units  which  need 
rehabilitation  or  architectural  revision;  must  directly 
or  indirectly  provide  a  financing  medium,  easily  and 
cheaply  available  to  those  who  cannot  themselves  sup- 
ply the  funds  necessary  to  defray  the  cost  of  such  re- 
pair and  reconstruction;  must  deal  with  community 
problems  such  as  the  opening  and  closing  of  streets, 
the  establishment  of  recreational  areas,  and  the  volun- 
tary acceptance,  by  property  owners,  of  those  use  and 
ownership  restrictions,  not  related  to  zoning  and  not 
usually  covered  by  ordinance,  which  have  so  frequently 
been  found  to  constitute  actual  benefits  to  the  individual 
owner  and  his  neighborhood;  must  devise  barriers 
against  infiltration  by  undesirable  residents  and  en- 
croachment and  infection  by  contiguous  substandard 
districts;  must  provide  for  traffic  routing  and  regula- 
tion; must  consider  necessary  extensions  of  school 
equipment  and  the  adequacy  of  public  utility  and  trans- 
portation facilities;  must  plan  landscaping  for  public 
and  private  spaces;  and  finally,  in  both  its  initial  and 
its  subsequent  stages,  must  be  administered  under 
sympathetic  and  continuously  energetic  leadership. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


Federal  Home  Loan  Bank  Board 


ITS  INTEREST 

The  Federal  Home  Loan  Bank  Board  is  definitely 
concerned  with  the  stabilization  of  neighborhood  values 
and  the  prevention  of  neighborhood  blight,  not  only 
because  of  the  social  implications  involved  but  also 
because  its  various  agencies  have  guaranteed  or  invested 
in  billions  of  dollars  of  mortgages,  real  estate,  and  sav- 
ings and  loan  shares,  which  would  be  endangered  were 
the  stability  of  the  security  which  now  protects  them  to 
be  seriously  impaired. 

SAVINGS  AND  LOAN  INSTITUTIONS 

The  Federal  Home  Loan  Bank  System,  through 
twelve  regional  banks,  provides  a  central  credit  reservoir 
for  nearly  4,000  member  thrift  and  home-financing 
institutions,  with  assets  of  about  $4,700,000,000, 
largely  invested  in  mortgages  on  small  homes  in  virtu- 
ally every  community  of  any  size  in  the  United  States. 
At  least  a  portion  of  this  property,  it  may  safely  be 
assumed,  lies  in  that  type  of  potentially  declining  area 
with  which  this  report  is  concerned.  In  addition,  the 
Federal  Savings  and  Loan  Insurance  Corporation  has 
insured  the  investment  shares  of  2,500,000  investors  in 
2,200  of  these  member  institutions  and  constantly  is 
extending  its  protection  to  others. 

HOME  OWNERS'  LOAN  CORPORATION 

Another  agency,  the  Home  Owners'  Loan  Corpora- 
tion, refinanced  more  than  a  million  distressed  home 
owners  to  the  extent  of  more  than  $3,000,000,000  during 
the  depression — holding,  at  the  close  of  its  lending 
period  in  1936,  mortgages  aggregating  $3,093,450,641, 
secured  by  approximately  one-tenth  of  the  nonfarm, 
owner-occupied  residences  in  the  United  States.  It  still 
holds  most  of  these  mortgages,  although  in  the  course  of 
their  liquidation  it  has  reluctantly  been  forced  to  acquire 
title  to  some  150,000  residential  units,  situated  in  prac- 
tically every  city  in  the  country.  Since  these  loans  in 
all  instances  represented  the  refinancing  of  distressed 
mortgage  holders,  it  follows  that  a  considerable  propor- 
tion of  the  real  estate  which  secures  them — and  a  large 


part  of  that  which  has  been  acquired  in  the  process  of 
their  liquidation — lies  in  older  areas  which  are  in  poten- 
tial danger  of  blight  infection. 

VALUE  OF  F.  H.  L.  B.  B.  SECURITY 


The  combined  value  of  the  residential  property  with 
which  the  Federal  Home  Loan  Bank  Board  thus  is — and 
for  many  years  will  be — directly  concerned,  now  aggre- 
gates some  7  billions  of  dollars.  Any  considerable- 
hazard  to  the  continued  stability  of  this  security  would 
seriously  endanger  the  financial  safety  of  its  agencies. 
The  Board  thus  has  a  tremendous  stake  in  the  whole 
fabric  of  American  residential  values  and  a  compelling 
and  very  practical  concern  in  the  stabilization  of  areas 
everywhere  which  are  beginning  to  show  evidence  of 
depreciation,  tending  eventually  to  carry  them  below 
the  line  of  normal  use.  It  therefore  considers  it  sound 
business  policy  to  assist  in  any  urban  conservation  pro- 
gram, in  which  there  is  a  reasonable  opportunity  to  pre- 
serve potentially  depressed  areas  as  genuine  home 
neighborhoods  offering  social  and  physical  environment 
that  is  conducive  to  healthy  home  life  and  safe 
investment. 

H.  O.  L.  C.  RECONDITIONING 

The  Bank  Board,  through  the  Home  Owners'  Loan 
Corporation,  has  already  made  a  major  contribution 
to  the  rehabilitation  of  considerable  areas.  Because 
the  owners  of  many  of  the  properties  which  it  accepted 
as  security  for  mortgage  loans  had  been  compelled  to 
postpone  repairs  during  the  previous  depressed  years, 
the  Corporation  eventually  found  it  desirable  to  recon- 
dition more  than  one-half  of  these  homes.  During  the 
first  5-year  period  of  its  existence,  it  spent  or  directed 
the  expenditure  of  approximately  $120,000,000  for  the 
repair  of  more  than  640,000  properties.  In  the  course 
of  this  tremendous  rehabilitation  operation,  it  learned 
that  the  utilitarian  and  investment  value  of  a  depreci- 
ated residential  structure,  in  a  reasonably  good  neigh- 
borhood, can  usually  be  restored  at  a  cost  somewhat  less 
than  the  amount  thereby  added  to  the  value  of  the 
subject  property.  It  found,  also,  that  in  making  this 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


sound  investment  for  itself,  it  frequently  benefited 
surrounding  property,  both  by  directly  increasing  values 
and  by  inspiring  neighboring  owners  to  improve  the 
condition  of  their  homes.  But  it  also  discovered  that 
the  individual  effort  of  a  single  property  owner,  even 
of  so  considerable  a  one  as  itself,  could  not  alone  pre- 
serve a  district  from  ultimate  destruction,  once  disinte- 
gration and  decay  had  really  begun  their  menacing 
march.  Thus  limited  by  neighborhood  conditions  and 
the  necessity  for  avoiding  over-improvement,  it  was 
unable  fully  to  restore  many  homes  which  otherwise 
it  would  have  completely  reconditioned. 

GRADED  AREA  MAPS 

The  Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation,  after  a  careful 
and  exhaustive  field  study  of  the  varied  community 
influences  involved,  has  prepared  maps  which  grade 
the  residential  neighborhoods  of  more  than  230  large 


cities.  The  purpose  of  these  maps  was  to  study  the 
factors  which  govern  the  desirability  of  the  security 
underlying  long  term  residential  mortgages.  At  the 
same  time  they  clearly  show  the  districts  in  which 
blight  is  destroying  neighborhood  values.  The  maps 
are  of  a  confidential  nature  and  cannot  be  made  public 
but  could  hundreds  of  thousands  of  home  owners, 
who  today  believe  that  their  properties  are  safe  from 
that  urban  disease  which  has  gradually  destroyed  the 
savings  of  so  many  other  thousands,  examine  these 
maps,  they  would  be  dismayed  to  realize  that  the  ulti- 
mate loss  of  their  own  equities  is  inevitable,  unless 
prompt,  concerted  action  to  save  them  is  undertaken. 
It  was  with  the  hope  of  lightening  the  heavy  toll 
which  neighborhood  blight  has  taken  of  our  American 
cities  in  the  past,  that  the  Federal  Home  Loan  Bank 
Board  authorized  participation  in  the  Test  Conserva- 
tion Program  described  in  this  report. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


The  Waverly  Area  of  Baltimore,  Md. 


REASONS  FOR  SELECTION 

Marked  depreciation  rests  heavily  upon  a  large  part 
of  the  territory  which  lies  within  the  old  limits  of  the 
city  of  Baltimore.  The  local  Housing  Authority  is  here 
undertaking  the  reclamation  of  five  sizeable  slum 
districts.  But  considerable  as  is  their  area,  they  repre- 
sent only  a  fraction  of  the  depreciated,  often  dilapi- 
dated, neighborhoods  of  the  old  city,  which  are  gradually 
but  progressively  extending  their  noxious  influence 
beyond  their  own  borders  in  all  directions. 

A  joint  committee  on  housing,  assembled  by  the 
Federal  Emergency  Administration  of  Public  Works 
and  cooperating  with  various  city  departments,  includ- 
ing health,  police,  water,  sewer,  plans  and  surveys, 
building  engineering,  etc.,  and  with  the  Juvenile  Court, 
the  Emergency  Relief  Commission,  the  Family  Wel- 
fare Association,  the  Catholic  Charities,  the  Urban 
League,  the  Criminal  Justice  Commission,  and  the 
Department  of  Sociology  of  Goucher  College,  in  1933 
completed  a  survey  of  the  city,  in  which  appears  the 
following  comment: 

The  Committee  wishes  to  state  in  the  most  emphatic  manner 
that  Baltimore  contains  a  ring  of  blighted  residential  tracts 
of  the  most  serious  importance  and  size.  The  center  of  the 
city  is  almost  completely  girdled  with  a  belt  of  property,  which, 
unless  rehabilitated,  will  remain  an  increasingly  serious  menace 
to  all  properties  inside  and  outside  of  this  ring. 

The  area  selected  for  the  Waverly  Conservation 
Program  later  described,  lies  about  2/£  miles  north  of 
Baltimore's  central  business  district.  It  is  beyond  the 
old  city  limits  and- — while  it  includes  some  badly  depre- 
ciated spots — it  can  in  no  way  be  classified  as  substan- 
dard at  this  time.  It  was  considered  an  appropriate 
subject  for  a  test  project  (1)  because  its  proximity  to 
the  city  of  Washington  provided  a  convenient  labora- 
tory location  for  those  governmental  agencies  which 
are  most  directly  concerned  at  this  time  with  the 
problems  of  urban  decay;  (2)  because  the  selected 
district  almost  entirely  is  comprised  of  moderate-sized, 
single-family  homes  that,  in  room  and  total  cubage, 
are  the  equivalent  of  those  for  which  there  is  a  present- 
day  market;  (3)  because,  although  the  Area  contains 
numerous  well-maintained  dwellings,  definite  indica- 


tions  of  a  downward  trend  can  be  observed  in  many 
scattered  blocks  within  its  borders;  (4)  because  just 
bej'ond  its  southern  boundary  is  a  fully  developed 
slum  which  continuously  menaces  its  social  and  eco- 
nomic integrity;  and  (5)  because,  eventually,  its  pres- 
ent obscure  but  definite  decline,  reflecting  increasing  age 
and  the  corrosive  influence  of  the  substandard  sections 
to  the  south  of  it,  will,  if  unchecked,  adversely  affect 
the  equities  of  all  home  owners  within  the  Area  and  the 
security  of  all  interested  loaning  agencies;  will  impair 
property  values  in  the  choice  residential  sections  on 
three  sides  of  it;  and  will  impose  a  considerably  in- 
creased tax  burden  on  the  entire  city  of  Baltimore. 

Drawing  No.  1  shows  the  location  of  the  test  Area 
in  relation  to  the  city's  slum  and  substandard  districts 
and  its  business  center. 


SCOPE  OF  SURVEY— ANALYSIS— PLANNING 

The  survey  and  planning  stage  of  the  Test  Conser- 
vation Project  included: 

1.  Afield  survey,  made  during  the  period  March  15 
to  August  15,  1939,  by  Works  Progress  Administration 
enumerators  and  social  investigators,  of  each  residen- 
tial and  commercial  structure  in  the  Area,  for  the  pur- 
pose  of   ascertaining   its   physical   condition — supple- 
mented, so  far  as  possible,  by  a  personal  interview  with 
an  occupant  of  each  dwelling,  for  the  purpose  of  learn- 
ing his  family's  social  and  economic  status.     The  sur- 
vey schedule  contained  132  main  items,  including  type, 
age,  and  condition  of  structure;  foundation,  outside 
wall  and  roof  material;  condition  of  exterior;  number  of 
stories  and  number  of  rooms;  condition  and  architec- 
tural arrangement  of  interior;    utilities  and  sanitary 
equipment;  heating,  light,  and  refrigeration;  necessary 
repair,  remodeling  and  embellishment;  number  in  occu- 
pant's family;  number  of  other  persons  and  families 
domiciled  in  the  unit;  occupation  and  income  of  the 
occupant;  rentals,   vacancies,   and   duration  of  occu- 
pancy; and  other  items  noted  in  the  descriptive  text 
which  follows. 

2.  At  least  two  photographs  of  each  structure,  dis- 
closing its  front  and  rear  exterior  architectural  features. 


WAVERLY—  A  STUDY  IN 


I 


SI_NG   AUTHORITV  OF  CIT'Y  QF  BflLT  IMORE  ^. 


THE  WAVERLY  AREA 

Baltimore/  Maryland 

Surrounding  Territory  —  Slum    Districts 


Drawing  No.  1 


KEY 

\Vaverly  Area 
Slum  districts 

O      1-  2-  3-mile  radius 

^      City  center 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


3.  Search  of  records  at  the  City  Hall  and  Courthouse, 
where   data  relating   to   assessments,    tax  levies,    tax 
delinquencies,  mortgages,  and  sales  were  obtained. 

4.  Analysis  to  determine  the  causes,  implications, 
and  remedies  for  the  substandard  conditions  and  tend- 
encies which   were    uncovered    by    the    examinations 
described  above. 

5.  Tabulation  of  the  accumulated  field  data,  etc., 
relating  to  each  improved  property;  determination  of 
its  physical  and  economic  deficiencies,  if  any;  and  the 
development  of  a  tentative  scale  of  rehabilitation  for 
each   depreciated  residential  structure,   calculated   to 
correct  any  existing  substandard  conditions  thus  un- 
covered.    This  included  needed  repair  and  recondition- 
ing, desirable  remodeling,  architectural  treatment,  em- 
bellishment and  landscaping,  an  outside  estimate  of 
costs,  and  pencil  sketches  and  models  where  necessary 
to    portray    recommended    changes    hi    architectural 
treatment — all  intended  to  bring  the  subject  dwelling 
to  the   highest  feasible   standard  consistent  with  its 
present  economic  and  physical  condition,  its  surround- 
ings, and  the  common  plan  for  the  Area  as  a  whole. 

6.  Study  of  installed  utilities  and  present  street  and 
alley  patterns,   park  facilities,   playground  provision, 
land  use,  block  improvement  schemes,  and  zoning  ordi- 
nances and — in  cooperation  with    the  Baltimore  city 
solicitor,    city    engineer,    Baltimore    Commission    on 
City  Plan,  and  interested  individuals — the  mapping  of 
practical  adjustments  of  these  elements,  in  accordance 
with  modern  city  planning  practice,  including  improve- 
ments in  block  development  and  street  pictures. 

7.  Examination  of  the  complete  field  report,  photo- 
graphs,   statistical    data    and    schedule    of    proposed 
rehabilitation  and  architectural  treatment  relating  to 
each  property,  supplemented  by  field  inspections,  for 
the  purpose  of  (a)  justifying  or  modifying  the  recom- 
mended reconditioning,  based  on  the  type,  location, 
and  physical  condition  of  the  structure  and  on  present 
and  prospective  neighborhood  trends  and  (6)  determin- 
ing the  present  value  of  the  property  and  such  change 
in  that  value  as  may  be  anticipated  when  the  proposed 
structural  and  community  improvements  have  been 
completed. 

8.  Exploration    of    available    sources    of    financing 
through  which  home  owners  who  require  assistance  in 
paying  the  cost  of  repairing  and  rehabilitating  their 
properties  might  borrow  the  necessary  funds. 

9.  Production  of  a  final,  comprehensive  Master  Plan 
for  the  physical,  economic,  and  social  conservation  of 
the  Waverly  area,  based  on  the  surveys  and  studies 
described   above   and   on   the   city's  general   housing 
program. 

10.  Cooperation  in  the  organization  of  a  neighborhood 
association,    to   which   the   recommendations   for   the 
treatment  of  each  property  and  of  the  whole  Area,  as 
finally  embodied  in  the  Master  Plan,  might  be  entrusted ; 


by  which,  with  energetic  and  sympathetic  local  leader- 
ship and  unified  neighborhood  support,  the  translation 
of  these  recommendations  into  the  physical  improve- 
ment of  the  Area  might  be  encouraged  and  carried 
forward;  and  under  which  the  neighborhood  standards 
so  established  might  long  be  maintained. 


COVERAGE 


Field  enumerators  and  social  investigators  were 
directed  to  interview  an  adult  occupant  of  each  family 
unit.  In  some  cases,  however,  the  field  representative, 
after  repeated  call-backs,  was  unable  to  contact  an 
occupant — and  in  others  he  was  refused  desired  in- 
formation. In  all  such  cases,  the  exterior  survey 
invariably  supplied  valuable  and  pertinent  data,  in 
addition  to  those  obtained  from  an  examination  of 
public  records.  Therefore,  while  the  maps  and  tabu- 
lations which  follow  do  not  always  reflect  a  com 
plete  field  survey,  the  number  of  properties  fully 
reported  and  the  number  partially  reported,  together 
with  the  related  information  accumulated  from  other 
sources,  provide  ample  material  for  an  accurate  cross 
section  and  composite  picture  of  present  conditions 
within  the  Waverly  area. 

Such  differences  as  occur  in  totals,  between  tables, 
in  some  instances  arise  from  the  enumerator's  failure 
to  contact  all  occupants,  and  in  others  from  the  fact 
that  occupants  sometimes  supplied  data  in  certain 
classifications  but  refused  them  in  others.  In  general, 
the  only  important  type  of  information  thus  withheld, 
however,  related  to  economic  status. 

PLAT  AND  POPULATION 

Long  known  as  the  Waverly  neighborhood,  the  area 
chosen  for  the  test  program  was  first  opened  in  1830. 
It  now  includes  39  city  blocks,  covering  approximately 
163  acres,  lying  in  an  irregular  district  approximately 
four-fifths  of  a  mile  long  by  one-third  of  a  mile  wide, 
extending  from  Thirty-third  Street  to  Forty-second 
Street  and  eastward  from  Greenmount  Avenue  to 
Ellerslie  Avenue  and  Argonne  Drive.  It  embraces  a 
total  area  of  7,097,541  square  feet — of  which  1,981,009, 
or  approximately  28  percent,  are  allotted  to  street  and 
alley  use  and  90,600,  or  a  little  over  1  percent,  to 
playgrounds — leaving  a  net  area,  usable  for  struc- 
tural development,  of  5,025,932  square  feet,  or  70 
percent  of  the  total  amount  of  the  land  in  the  district. 

There  are  1,748  lots  hi  the  Project  Area,  of  which  38 
are  vacant  and  privately  owned,  35  are  used  for  relig- 
ious, school,  and  other  public  purposes  or  are  held  for 
future  municipal  use,  19  are  given  over  wholly  to  com- 
mercial purposes,  46  have  on  them  one-story  commer- 
cial garages  only — and  1,610  are  improved  with  residen- 
tial or  combined  commercial  and  residential  structures. 


10 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Table  No.  1 
NET  USABLE  AREA 

Gross  area 

Streets-alleys 

Playgrounds 

Net  area 

Acres 

Square 
feet 

Square 
feet 

Percent 

of  gross 

Square 
feet 

Percent 
of  gross 

Square 
feet 

Percent 
of  gross 

163.1 

7,  097,  641 

1,981,009 

27.9 

90,600 

1.3 

5,  025,  932 

70.8 

Waverly  thus  includes  1,629  :buildings,    98.8  'percent 
of  which  are  used  for  residential  purposes. 

Occupied  by  a  wholly  white  population  of  moderate 
means  and  substantial  character,  predominantly  Amer- 
ican-born, which  in  general  gives  definite  evidence  of 
social  and  civic  pride,  the  Area  has  a  population  of 
approximately  7,000  persons. 

DEPRECIATION 

The  age  of  some  of  the  structures  in  the  Area  exceeds 
50  years;  some  are  comparatively  modern,  and,  at  the 
date  of  this  report,  a  few  in  the  northeast  section  were 
under  construction.  Though  the  great  majority  of 
these  dwellings  are  in  an  excellent  state  of  general  re- 
pair, and  none  is  in  a  condition  of  advanced  decay,  ap- 
proximately 100  of  them  need  more  or  less  extensive 
reconditioning  and  remodeling,  to  counteract  the  physi- 
cal and  functional  depreciation  which  has  taken  heavy 
toll  of  them.  Unless  reasonably  prompt  action  is 
taken  to  bring  them  up  to  the  average  of  the  district,  at 
least  as  to  physical  condition,  they  will  not  only  adversely 
affect  property  values  in  their  immediate  neighborhoods 
but  will  also  constitute  increasingly  dangerous  blight- 
infection  foci,  menacing  the  entire  body  of  the  district. 

Developed  slowly,  during  more  than  a  century, 
Waverly's  street  pattern  and  street  widths  also  fre- 
quently constitute  a  considerable  handicap  to  the  Area. 

Drawing  No.  2  on  the  following  page  shows  its 
boundaries  and  street  layout  and  indicates  the  lots 
which  are  structurally  improved. 

ENVIRONS 

To  the  west  and  northwest  of  the  Project  Area  is  one 
of  the  finest  residential  districts  in  the  city ;  to  the  north 
and  east  are  also  new,  high-class  neighborhoods;  at  its 
southwest  corner,  across  the  protective  barrier  of  Green- 
mount  Avenue,  is  a  comparatively  small,  dilapidated 
district  which  affords  an  excellent  example  of  that  blight 
and  corrosion  from  which  it  is  intended  to  protect 
Waverly,  by  means  of  the  conservation  program  do- 
scribed  in  this  report. 

Three  squares  north  and  east  of  the  Area,  on  Arling- 
ton Avenue,  is  a  well-maintained  Negro  settlement, 
embracing  approximately  five  city  blocks  and  popu- 
lated largely  by  members  of  the  teaching  staff  of  nearby 


Morgan  College.  Surrounding  this  area  is  a  consider- 
able section  of  unimproved  land,  belonging  to  a  group 
of  Negro  bankers.  Control  of  Morgan  College  has 
recently  been  acquired  by  the  State  of  Maryland  and  it 
is  anticipated  that  its  field  of  instruction,  and  therefore 
its  staff,  will  now  be  considerably  enlarged. 

Directly  east  of  the  Area  is  Saint  Elizabeth's  Home 
for  Female  Colored  Orphans,  an  institution  of  consider- 
able size. 

To  the  south,  and  definitely  threatening  the  Area — 
by  its  contiguity  and  by  actual  infiltration — is  a  fully 
developed,  though  not  congested,  slum  district.  Most 
of  the  streets  in  this  section  arc  unpaved;  it  is  badly 
deficient  in  storm-water  sewers,  sidewalks,  curbs,  and 
gutters;  occupancy  is  being  gradually  relinquished  to 
an  economically  needy  and  racially  mixed  residential 
type,  which  must  be  subsidized  if  decent  living  stand- 
ards are  to  be  restored.  Short  of  eventual  clearance 
and  reconstruction,  there  appears  to  be  no  prospect  of 
reversal  in  the  trend  of  this  neighborhood. 

Usually,  a  slum  may  be  roughly  divided  into  zones 
which  exhibit  varying  degrees  of  physical  and  social 
deterioration,  with  the  worst  area  at  the  core  and  with 
progressively  better  housing  developing  outward,  toward 
the  rim,  where  exists  an  indeterminate  line  between  the 
slum  proper  and  the  depressed  but  not  blighted  areas 
which  adjoin  it.  In  the  case  of  the  substandard  district 
south  of  Waverly,  however,  transition  is  abrupt.  At 
one  point,  the  two  virtually  adjoin,  being  separated  only 
by  a  wedge-shaped  tract,  improved  with  modern  homes 
in  an  excellent  state  of  repair,  narrow  at  the  west  and 
continuously  widening  toward  the  east.  The  slum's 
pressure  to  cross  this  sharply  defined  barrier  is  steady 
and  definite  and  has  been  successfully  resisted  hitherto 
only  by  means  of  the  high  neighborhood  standards 
which  have  been  maintained  within  this  triangular 
section. 

The  relative  areas  of  white  and  colored  occupancy 
are  shown  in  drawing  No.  4  on  page  17. 

LAND  TENURE 

Peculiar  to  Baltimore  and  its  immediate  vicinity — 
but  largely  unknown  elsewhere — is  a  system  of  resi- 
dential land  tenure,  usually  referred  to  as  "ground  rent," 
which  has  exerted  a  considerable  influence  on  the  form 
of  many  of  the  summary  charts  which  follow.  As 
the  result  of  this  system,  over  75  percent  of  the  city's 
residences  have  been  built  on  sites  which  are  not  owned 
by  the  owner  of  the  improvements. 

The  history  of  the  ground  rent  in  Maryland  goes 
back  to  the  original  grant  of  land  to  Lord  Baltimore 
for  a  nominal  annual  consideration.  Subsequently, 
smaller  tracts  were  leased  on  annual  rental  scales  that 
frequently  reflected  the  economic  needs  of  the  lessor 
rather  than  the  value  of  the  property.  In  the  case 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


11 


THE  WAVERLY  AREA 
1939 


D«rwin3  No.  2 


12 


WAVERLY—  A  STUDY  IN 


of  some  of  these  early  leases,  annual  payments  were 
made  in  the  form  of  commodities  such  as  flour,  corn, 
and  tobacco. 

As  the  urban  population  of  the  State  grew  and  trans- 
actions in  small  residential  areas  increased,  ground 
rents  were  usually  so  fixed  as  to  return  6  percent  on 
the  appraised  value  of  the  unimproved  property  in- 
volved. Thus,  if  a  lot  was  appraised  at  $500,  a  rental 
price  of  $30  per  annum  was  usually  put  upon  it.  The 
typical  modern  lease — which  now  runs  for  a  period 
of  99  years,  with  the  right  of  the  lessee  to  renew  indef- 
initely— provides  that,  in  addition  to  the  amount  of 
his  rent,  payable  in  cash  at  the  end  of  each  6  months' 
period,  the  tenant  shall  also  pay  accruing  taxes  and 
assessments  and  shall  be  bound  by  all  covenants  that 
run  with  the  land. 

The  rights  of  lessor  and  lessee  have  been  established 
by  precedent  and  legal  enactment  over  a  period  of 
several  centuries.  When  the  payment  of  ground  rent 
is  6  months  or  more  in  arrears,  the  lessor  may  take 
possession  and  collect  any  income  until  all  accrued 
rents  and  taxes  have  been  paid.  In  such  case  either 
the  lessee  or  a  mortgagee  may  redeem  the  property 
within  the  following  (i  months.  When  charges  are  one 
year  in  arrears,  the  lessor  may,  by  suit  in  ejectment, 
acquire  fee  title  to  the  entire  property.  Prior  to  1884  it 
was  legal  to  create  "irredeemable  rents."  Under  these 
contracts,  the  lessee  could  acquire  absolute  ownership 
to  the  real  estate  under  his  home  only  by  purchasing 
it  at  the  owner's  price.  This  class,  fortunately,  repre- 
sents a  minority  of  cases.  Any  residential  land  lease 
made  after  1884  and  running  for  a  period  exceeding 
15  years,  is  redeemable  at  the  option  of  the  lessee, 
5  years  of  more  after  its  date,  upon  1  month's  notice 
to  the  lessor  and  the  payment  to  him  of  an  amount 
computed  by  capitalizing  the  annual  rent  at  6  percent. 

Under  the  ground-rent  system,  the  nominal  home 
owner  does  not  own  the  land  upon  which  his  house 
stands  and  only  as  long  as  he  pays  ground  rent,  taxes, 
and  assessments — or  purchases  the  ground  fee  for  cash 
-  may  he  continue  to  occupy  his  dwelling.  The  lessor 
thus  not  only  has  the  equivalent  of  a  mortgage  on  all 
structural  improvements,  but  his  lien  is  also  senior 
to  that  of  any  "first  mortgage"  recorded  after  the  date 
of  the  land  lease. 


Investors — including  some  insurance  companies  - 
have  long  been  accustomed  to  purchase  these  ground 
rents  at  prices  representing  a  6-percent  capitalization 
of  the  amount  of  the  annual  rental.  During  periods 
when  the  return  on  prime  investments  is  low,  the  price 
paid  for  a  well-secured  lease  is  often  a  4-  to  5-percent 
capitalization  of  the  annual  rental.  Within  recent 
years,  however,  in  neighborhoods  which  show  evidence 
of  a  definite  downward  trend,  and  particularly  when 
home  owners  have  been  unable  to  pay  ground  rent  and 
taxes  and  maintain  repairs,  leases  have  sold  on  an  8- 
and  even  a  10-percent  capitalized  basis,  notwithstand- 
ing present  low  general  income  levels.  This  revision  of 
a  formerly  settled  practice,  which  gave  little  or  no 
consideration  to  long-term  neighborhood  trends,  indi- 
cates a  comparatively  recent  but  definite  recognition 
of  the  economic  implications  of  impending  blight. 

Residential  structures  selling  for  less  than  $10,000 
arc  commonly  financed  by  creating  a  leasehold  on  the 
land  and  executing  a  mortgage  on  the  improvements 
only. 

At  least  75  percent  of  all  dwellings  in  Baltimore  are 
held  subject  to  these  ground  rents  and  this  percentage 
holds  true  in  the  Wavcrly  area  also. 


Table  No.  2 
GROUND  RENTS 


Ownership 


Fee  not  held  by  home  owner _ 
Fee  held  bv  home  owner... 


Total.. 


Number 


1,329 
419 


1,  748 


Percent 


76 
24 


100 


When  the  ground-rent  system  of  land  tenure  pre- 
vails, physical  changes  in  structural  improvements, 
arising  through  obsolescence  and  decay  on  the  one  hand 
and  through  reconditioning  and  remodeling  on  the 
other,  are  reflected  in  the  value  of  the  improvements 
alone,  rather  than  in  that  of  the  improvements  and 
land  combined.  Unless,  therefore,  the  contrary  is 
specifically  stated,  land  value  is  not  used  as  a  factor  in 
calculating  dollar  summaries  throughout  this  report. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


13 


Social  Status 


POPULATION— INCOM  E— OCCUPATION 

Slightly  more  than  7,000  persons,  all  of  whom  are 
white,  reside  within  the  Waverly  area.  Its  cross  section 
closely  resembles  that  of  the  average  small  American 
city,  populated  by  substantial  families  of  moderate 
means. 

While  complete  economic  data  are  not  available, 
information  obtained  by  field  enumerators  and  later 
confirmed  by  local  merchants  and  professional  men. 
indicates  that  75  percent  of  these  families  have  weekly 
incomes  of  $30  or  less,  15  percent  are  in  the  $30  to  $50 
bracket,  and  10  percent  range  between  $50  and  $100. 

Approximately  7  percent  of  the  employed  population 
is  engaged  in  professional  work,  59  percent  in  commer- 
cial pursuits,  and  34  percent  in  industry. 

HEALTH 

That  general  health  conditions  in  Waverly  are  satis- 
factory is  indicated  by  table  No.  3,  which  is  a  tabula- 
tion of  mortality  statistics  for  the  year  1937,  compiled 
from  data  supplied  by  the  Baltimore  Health 
Department. 


Table  No.  3 
1937  MORTALITY  STATISTICS 

Kind  of  disease 

Deaths  per  100,000 
population 

Waverly 

Baltimore 

Measles  _. 

1  3 
0 
0 
0 
75 
0 
125 
63 
325 
100 
1  52 

2.3 
2.  5 
0.7 
9.9 
62.0 
11.  8 
150.2 
97.  0 
344.2 
99.  2 
75.5 

Whooping  cough  

Diphtheria  _ 

Influenza..    

Respiratory  tuberculosis 

Syphilis    

Cancer.     „ 

Cerebral  hemorrhage 

Diseases  of  heart  

Pneumonia  .   . 

Accidents  

i  8-year  average. 

POPULATION  DENSITY 

Nowhere  in  Waverly  is  there  any  evidence  of  over- 
crowding, so  far  as  population  is  concerned.  The 
western  and  southern  fringe  of  the  Area  is  classified  as 
C-1%  for  use-height,  permitting  a  population  not  exceed- 
ing 80  families  per  acre.  With  an  area  of  24.3  acres,  a 
structural  count  of  445  buildings  and  a  population  of 
484  families,  this  C-1%  district  is  technically  available 
for  1,944  families. 

The  balance  of  Waverly  is  assigned  to  D-40  use- 
height,  which  allows  a  population  density  not  exceeding 
40  families  per  acre.  With  139  acres  designated  as 
D-40  and  a  population  of  approximately  1,184  families, 
this  section  could  legally  house  5,560  families. 

Actual  and  relative  population  density  throughout 
Baltimore  and  in  the  Waverly  area  is  shown  in  drawing 
No.  3. 

CHURCHES  AND  SCHOOLS 

Within  the  Area  are  one  Baptist,  one  Presbyterian, 
and  two  Methodist  churches,  a  public  grade  school 
housed  in  a  fine  modern  building  and  a  parochial  grade 
school.  Immediately  adjoining  it  arc  a  Catholic 
Church,  two  additional  grade  schools,  and  a  newly  con- 
structed high  school.  Just  beyond  its  eastern  border 
lies  the  new  Municipal  Stadium,  which  has  a  seating 
capacity  of  60,000  persons,  but  is  a  neighborhood  asset 
of  very  doubtful  value. 

COLLEGES  AND  HOSPITALS 

Three  blocks  southeast  of  the  Area  is  the  City  Col- 
lege of  Baltimore;  six  blocks  west  of  it  is  the  City  Art 
Museum  and  the  campus  of  Johns  Hopkins  University; 
two  blocks  to  the  west  is  Johnston  Memorial  Hospital 
for  Children;  and  approximately  a  mile  eastward  is 
Sydenham  Hospital. 

NEIGHBORHOOD  ORGANIZATIONS 

The  promotion  of  the  civic  and  social  interests  of 
Waverly  is  the  chief  object  of  the  following  area  or- 
ganizations: 

Waverly  Improvement  Association.  3 
Chestnut  Hill  Improvement  Association.3 
Greenmount  Improvement  Association.3 
'  Affiliated  with  Northeast  Improvement  Association. 


14 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


CITY  OF 
BALTIMORE,  MARYLAND 

Population  Density  by  Census  Districts 


KEY 

•  Denotes  500  persons 

I  Denotes  0  to  250  persons 

»  Denotes  250  to  500  persons 

E3  Waverly  Area 


Drawin3  No.  3 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


15 


York  Road  Improvement  Association. 
Parent-Teacher  Association — School  District  No.  51. 
Women's  Civic  League — Group  No.  9. 

The .  projected  activities  of  the  Waverly  Conserva- 
tion League,  described  later  in  this  report,  will  in  no 
way  conflict  with  those  of  any  of  the  organizations 
named  above  and  ready  assurance  of  their  support  and 
cooperation,  in  activating  the  League's  program,  has 
been  given. 

RELIEF 

The  count  of  relief  cases  in  the  Waverly  area,  as 
supplied  by  the  Baltimore  Department  of  Public  Wel- 
fare, is  as  follows: 


Table  No.  4 

RELIEF  CASES  IN  WAVERLY 

Type 

Number 

Aid  to  dependent  children   _             .   

10 

Aid  to  the  blind           -   

1 

General  public  assistance 

4 

46 

Total                            

61 

Relief  is  being  extended  to  less  than  one  Area  resident 
in  100.  When,  from  the  total  number  on  the  relief 
rolls,  dependent  children,  blind  persons  and  persons 
entitled  to  old-age  assistance  are  deducted,  the  ratio 
receiving  general  public  assistance  drops  to  less  than  1 
in  2,000. 

PARKS  AND  PLAYGROUNDS 

There  are  no  public  parks  within  Waverly,  but  a 
half  mile  to  the  east  and  southeast  of  it  are  2  park 
spaces  having  a  combined  area  of  some  600  acres.  Sur- 
rounding the  newly  completed  Municipal  Stadium  is 
a  large  open  space  which  has  been  graded  and  turfed 
but  has  not  yet  been  equipped  with  athletic  or  play- 
ground apparatus  or  with  playing  fields.  These  park 
facilities  are  indicated  in  grey  on  drawing  No.  4. 

Play  area  provision  is  wholly  inadequate  for 
Waverly's  needs.  The  only  recreational  space  which 
can  properly  be  referred  to  as  a  public  playground 
comprises  the  block  adjacent  to  Public  School  No. 
51,  bounded  by  Thirty-fourth  and  Thirty -fifth  Streets 
and  Ellerslie  Avenue.  Except  for  football  goal  posts, 
however,  no  recreational  apparatus  has  been  installed 
in  this  area.  During  morning  hours,  the  Board  of 
Education  reserves  it  for  the  use  of  smaller  children. 
In  the  afternoon  it  is  used  as  a  playground  for  older 
ones.  Heretofore,  play  during  the  latter  period  has 
been  supervised  by  the  Playground  Athletic  League, 


16 


an  organization  sponsored  by  private  interests  ar 
supported  by  private  and  municipal  contributions. 
During  the  week-ends  and  the  summer  holidays,  both 
junior  and  senior  children  use  the  grounds  jointly. 
No  provision  has  been  made  for  the  segregation  of  boys 
and  girls  at  any  time. 

Until  recently,  the  Athletic  League  has  had  charge  of 
play  activities  throughout  the  city  of  Baltimore.  Early 
in  the  present  year,  however,  the  Playground  Recrea- 
tional Commission  was  established  by  the  city  and  given 
control  of  all  playground  activities  in  Waverly  and 
elsewhere  throughout  Baltimore.  Because  the  city  has 
made  no  appropriation  for  its  needs,  this  Commission 
is  as  yet  largely  inactive.  The  Atliletic  League,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  reluctant  to  extend  further  financial 
support  to  the  city's  play  activities  because  the  super- 
vision of  playgrounds  has  now  been  formally  trans- 
ferred to  the  Commission. 

During  the  past  few  years,  two  small  adjoining 
unimproved  and  unequipped  lots  near  Old  York  Road, 
in  the  northern  section  of  Waverly,  have  also  been  used 
for  recreational  purposes,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Playground  Atliletic  League. 

In  1926  the  so-called  Olmstead  studies  included 
recommendations  for  two  additional  recreational 
areas  —  one,  a  public  park  to  be  located  immediately 
northeast  of  Waverly,  the  other,  a  playground  of  con- 
siderable size,  to  be  located  near  the  northern  border 
of  the  district.  Favorable  action  on  these  recommen- 
dations would  provide  Waverly  with  adequate  open 
spaces  for  all  types  of  recreation,  but  until  it  is  taken, 
playground  provision,  at  least,  will  remain  wholly 
inadequate  for  the  needs  of  the  present  population  of 
the  Area. 

STREETS  AND  ALLEYS 

With  the  exception  of  Wyanoke  Avenue,  Frisby 
Street,  and  the  northern  section  of  Ellerslie  Avenue  — 
all  of  which  need  new  gutters,  curbs,  and  surfacing  — 
streets  throughout  the  Area  are  adequately  paved  and 
reasonably  well  maintained. 

At  least  from  the  standpoint  of  health,  proper  alley 
pavement  and  maintenance  is  probably  of  greater  im- 
portance than  is  the  maintenance  of  streets.  While 
many  of  Waverly's  alleys  are  paved,  well  maintained 
and  neatly  kept,  others  fall  far  below  permissible  urban 
standards.  Some,  indeed,  which  are  indicated  on  city 
maps  as  full  alleys,  are  little  more  than  rough  foot 
paths.  Much  constructive  work  can  be  done  in  this 
department  of  project  activity. 

Additional  street  openings  are  needed  to  promote 
more  direct  traffic  movement  and  to  open  considerable 
tracts  of  land  to  future  building  operations.  The 
immediate  neighborhoods  in  which  they  lie  would  also 
be  benefited  by  the  closing  of  certain  streets. 


—  A  STUDY  IN 


PUBLIC  PARKS  AND  AREAR  OF  WHITE  AND 
COLORED  OCCUPANCY 

Drawing  No.  4 


KEY 

E3    Waverly  Area 
••    Colored  occupancy 
Public  parks 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


17 


TRAFFIC  CIRCULATION 

Many  of  the  streets  in  the  Area  are  too  narrow  for 
their  traffic  load  and  numerous  unrelated  street  patterns 
hamper  and  confuse  traffic  flow  into,  within,  and  out 
from  its  borders. 

Greenmount  Avenue,  which  bounds  Waverly  on  the 
west,  is  the  only  direct,  through,  north  and  south 
vehicular  artery  available  to  the  Area  and  to  the 


KEY 

Water  mains 

Electric  conduits 

, Storm  sewers 

Sanitary  sewers 


New  sanitary  sewers 

Proposed  streets 


EXISTING  AND  PROPOSED  UTILITIES 
IN  WAVERLY 


.  5 


populous  districts  north  of  it.  Because  the  capacit 
of  this  60-foot  street  is  frequently  insufficient  for  its 
load,  trolley,  truck,  and  passenger-car  traffic  moves 
too  slowly  along  it  and  too  frequently  jams. 

Old  York  Road — which  is  indicated  on  the  city's 
maps  as  a  24-foot  street  but  is,  in  fact,  not  of  uniform 
width — is  restricted  to  north-bound  traffic,  does  not 
provide  adequately  for  even  that  limited  use  and  will 
not  begin  to  do  so  until  parking  is  prohibited  along  its 
entire  length.  No  direct  south-bound  artery  exists 
anywhere  within  the  body  of  the  Area. 

There  are  11  street  entrances  from  Greenmount 
Avenue  into  Waverly,  all  but  4  of  which,  however, 
dead-end  at  Old  York  Road  1  block  cast  of  Greenmount. 

Only  these  4  streets  permit  direct  east  and  west 
movement  across  the  Area;  elsewhere  such  movement 
is  subject  to  frequent  turnings  and  directional  changes, 
due  to  the  various  unrelated  street  patterns  which 
exists  throughout  the  district. 

Excessive  cost  prohibits  any  general  correction  of  this 
condition,  but  studies — more  completely  described  in  a 
subsequent  section  of  this  report — conducted  in  connec- 
tion with  the  survey,  have  developed  important  prac- 
tical revisions  which,  if  carried  out,  will  considerably 
ameliorate  it. 

PARKING 

Due  to  the  inadequate  width  of  many  of  Waverly's 
streets,  parking  has  become  a  definite  problem.  The 
Area  contains  no  public  parking  lots  but  many  individual 
and  one-story  commercial  row  garages  are  offered  for 
rent.  Property  owners  and  tenants,  however,  largely 
use  curb  spaces  for  day-  and  night-parking  purposes. 
On  the  narrower  streets,  this  both  restricts  and  renders 
dangerous  the  free  movement  of  two-way  traffic.  The 
project  planning  department  has  recommended  that 
various  unused  tracts  of  city-owned  property,  which 
are  scattered  throughout  the  district,  be  conditioned 
for  open-air  parking,  free  to  nearby  owners  and  tenants, 
and  that  thereafter  the  use  of  curb  spaces  be  restricted 
or  prohibited. 

Sufficient  car-storage  space  is  not  readily  available 
for  the  patrons  of  the  adjacent  Municipal  Stadium— 
which  has  a  seating  capacity  of  approximately  60,000 
persons — and  on  the  frequent  occasions  when  it  is  in 
use  they  still  further  complicate  the  parking  problems 
of  the  southern  portion  of  the  Area. 

A  tract  which  is  considerably  larger  than  is  necessary 
for  its  purposes,  or  than  can  be  properly  maintained 
within  the  limitations  of  its  budget,  was  allotted  to  the 
Senior  High  School — lying  just  south  of  the  stadium— 
when  the  latter  was  built.  A  portion  of  this  space 
should  be  made  available  for  stadium  parking,  thus 
relieving  the  additional  burden  which  use  of  the  stadium 
frequently  imposes  on  Waverly's  streets. 


18 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


GAS,  WATER,  ELECTRICITY,  AND  SEWERS 

The  entire  Area  is  supplied  with  gas,  water,  and 
electric  service  and  with  both  storm  water  and  sanitary 
sewers.  Provision  in  these  respects  is  fully  adequate 
for  the  needs  of  both  the  present  and  any  anticipated 
future  population.  Drawing  No.  5  shows  existing  and 
proposed  water  mains,  sewers,  and  electric  conduits 
throughout  the  district. 

STREET  LIGHTING 

The  streets  in  the  residential  districts  surrounding 
the  Area  are  lighted  almost  entirely  by  electricity,  but 
gas,  with  outmoded  iron  standards,  is  still  used  for 
street  lighting  purposes  throughout  Waverly.  From 
time  to  time,  proposals  have  been  made  to  substitute 
electricity  for  gas,  but  no  appreciable  progress  has  yet 
been  made  hi  that  direction.  In  some  sections,  this 
change  would  slightly  increase  maintenance  costs;  in 
others,  it  would  greatly  reduce  them;  but  in  any  case 
it  is  essential  to  a  broad  modernization  program. 

FIRE  PROTECTION 

Both  the  sanitary  and  the  fire  departments  keep 
close  check  on  new  construction,  so  that  fire  hydrants, 
of  which  there  is  at  present  a  sufficient  supply,  may 
be  added  as  required. 

PLANTING  AND  LANDSCAPING 

Although  many  lots  definitely  require  better  main- 
tenance and  the  expenditure  of  small  sums  for  shrub 
and  tree  planting,  the  majority  of  the  lawns  in  the  Area 
are  well  kept  and  then-  landscaping  gives  evidence  of 
thought  and  pride.  Each  property  owner,  however, 
has  treated  his  planting  as  an  individual  problem  and 
nowhere  has  any  effort  been  made  to  create  a  unified 
street  picture. 

The  care  of  parkway  lawns  has  generally  been  accept- 
ed as  the  obligation  of  abutting  property  owners  and 
these  strips  are  well  maintained  wherever  the  adjoining 
lawn  is  properly  kept  up.  Although  tree  planting  and 
maintenance  of  these  curb  strips  is  the  responsibility  of 
the  Park  Board,  in  many  blocks  there  are  few  or  no 
parkway  trees,  as  compared  with  the  accepted  standard 
spacing  of  twenty  feet.  School  grounds  likewise 
require  extensive  planting. 

Future  landscaping  should  be  developed  on  a  block 
or  street  scale,  rather  than  as  a  series  of  unrelated  lot 
problems,  and  it  is  recommended  that  the  cooperation 
of  the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners  be  solicited  for  that 
purpose. 


TRANSPORTATION 


Trolley 

--  Bus 


TRANSPORTATION 

Adequate  transportation  for  the  needs  of  the  Area  is 
provided  in  four  directions.  Along  Greenmount  Avenue, 
electric  cars  supply  frequent  and  fast  service  south  to 
the  city's  principal  business  center  and  north  to  its 
newer  residential  districts.  East  and  west,  there  is 
bus  transportation  along  Thirty-ninth  Street,  Ellerslie 
Avenue,  and  Thirty-sixth  Street,  supplemented  by  a 
trolley  line  on  Gorsuch  Avenue,  a  block  south  of  the 
district. 

Transportation  facilities  to  and  from  Waverly  are 
mapped  in  drawing  No.  6. 

COMMERCIAL 

Along  Greenmount  Avenue,  which  bounds  Waverly  on 
the  west,  is  a  business  center  that  sufficiently  supplies 
the  commercial,  service,  and  entertainment  needs  of 
the  territory.  Within  the  body  of  the  Area,  along  the 
northern  portion  of  Old  York  Road,  in  a  district  zoned 
for  that  purpose,  is  another  small  shopping  center. 
Scattered  elsewhere  throughout  the  district  are  two 
small,  nonconforming  manufacturing  plants  and  26 
nonconforming,  converted  homes,  now  used  as  com- 
bined dwellings  and  shops. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


19 


Economic  Status 


TAX  RATE 

Real  estate  in  Baltimore  is  assessed  for  tax  purposes 
at  its  full  improved  value.  Being  subject  to  but  two 
taxing  bodies — the  State,  which  has  a  present  rate  of 
$0.23%  per  $100  of  assessed  value  and  the  city,  whose 
rate  is  $2.65,  or  a  total  of  $2.88^  for  both — the  Area  is 
fortunate  in  having  escaped  the  multiplicity  of  over- 
lapping, independent  municipal  corporations  which  so 
complicate  the  tax  picture  elsewhere.  There  are,  how- 
ever, no  legal  restrictions  which  would  prevent  the  city 
from  raising  its  ad  valorem  tax  at  will. 

Current  taxes  may  be  paid  without  penalty  between 
January  1  and  June  30  and  real  estate  may  be  sold  for 
delinquent  taxes  at  any  time  after  the  latter  date.  As 
a  matter  of  practice,  however,  sales  are  usually  delayed 
until  the  statute  of  limitations — which,  after  4  years, 
is  legally  a  good  defense  for  the  nonpayment  of  taxes — 
is  about  to  become  operative.  A  redemption  period  of 
1  year  after  tax  sale  is  provided  by  the  State  statutes. 

ASSESSED  VALUE 

Information  relative  to  tax  assessment  and  delin- 
quency was  obtained  by  field  enumerators  from  records 
in  the  City  Hall  and  Courthouse.  In  1927,  the  1,496 
privately  owned  and  improved  residential  and  com- 
mercial properties  in  Waverly  were  assessed  at 
$6,068,090  for  land  and  buildings,  as  compared  with 
the  1939  assessment  of  $7,177,215  on  1,629  structures. 

Although  no  commercial  buildings  were  constructed 
within  the  Area  during  the  12  years  under  considera- 
tion, the  average  assessed  land  and  improvement  value 
of  the  business  properties  within  its  boundaries  in- 
creased from  $11,827  to  $18,107,  or  an  advance  exceed- 
ing 50  percent.  One-third  of  this  increase  represents 
a  mark-up  on  land  and  two-thirds  of  it  on  improve- 
ments— and  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  consider- 
able structural  depreciation  and  a  sharp  slump  in 
reproduction  costs  and  market  values  occurred  between 
the  years  1927  and  1939.  The  average  assessed  value 
of  the  53  converted  dwellings,  which  are  now  also  used 
for  business  purposes,  was  advanced  between  those 
years  by  over  20  percent,  four-fifths  of  that  increase, 
however,  representing  land  advance.  During  the  same 

20 


period,  the  average  tax  value  of  wholly  resider 
property  was  largely  stationary,  with  a  6/£,  percent 
advance  practically  all  in  land  value.  The  apparent 
failure  to  give  proper  weight  to  the  factor  of  structural 
depreciation  and  the  absence  of  uniformity  in  the 
assignment  of  increases,  indicate  a  possible  superficial 
application  of  the  city's  taxing  formula — and  also  sug- 
gests that  here  is  a  fertile  field  for  constructive  effort 
by  a  neighborhood  organization  representing  the  entire 
Area. 

Unless  it  is  stabilized,  the  increasing  financial  burd 
imposed  by  mounting  assessments  and  increasing  tax 
rates,  which  the  business  community  is  thus  compelled 
•to  absorb,  will  tend  to  promote  commercial  discontinu- 
ances, will  be  reflected  in  increased  retail  merchandise 
costs,  and  will  eventually  compel  important  economic 
readjustments  within  the  neighborhood. 


Table  No.  5 

ASSESSED  VALUE 
(Land  and  improvements) 

Land  use 

1927 

1939 

Num- 
ber of 
prop- 
erties 

Assessed 
value 

Num- 
ber of 
prop- 
erties 

Assessed 
value 

19 
53 
1,424 

$224,  715 
240,845 
5,  602,  530 

19 
53 
1,557 

$344,040 
294,  635 
6,  538,  540 

Commercial  and  residential  

Total                            

1,486 

6,  068,  090 

1,629 

7,  177,  215 

Table  No.  6 

ASSESSED  VALUE 
(Improvements  only) 

Land  use 

1927 

1939 

Num- 
ber of 
prop- 
erties 

Assessed 
value 

Num- 
ber of 
prop- 
erties 

Assessed 
value 

19 
53 
1,424 

$123,  655 
173,990 
4,  387,  920 

19 
53 
1,557 

$205,600 
188,  210 
4,  761,  595 

Total 

1,496 

4,  685,  565 

1,629 

5,  155,  405 

WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Table  No.  7 
AVERAGE  ASSESSED  VALUE 

Land  use 

Land  and  improvements 

Improvements  only 

1927 

1939 

Increase 

1927 

1939 

Increase 

Commercial 
only 

$11,  827 

4,544 
3,934 

$18,  107 

5,599 
4,199 

$6,280 

1,015 
265 

$6,508 

3,283 
3,088 

$10,  821 

3,551 
3,080 

$4,313 

268 
18 

Commercial  and 
residential  
Residential  only. 

1  Decline. 

TAX  DELINQUENCE 

As  of  July  31,  1939,  approximately  14  percent — in 
dollar  volume — of  the  total  tax  levied  against  residen- 
tial property  in  Waverly  for  that  year  was  delinquent, 
as  compared  with  15  percent  for  the  entire  city  of 
Baltimore. 

Taxes  on  only  8  percent  of  the  total  number  of  prop- 
erties in  the  Area,  however,  were  unpaid,  from  which  it 
may  be  inferred  that,  in  general,  the  owners  of  the  less 
costly  type  of  home  liquidate  their  tax  obligations 
more  promptly  than  those  owners  whose  average  in- 
vestment is  greater. 

Almost  10  percent  of  the  properties  subject  to  ground 
lease  were  delinquent  in  the  payment  of  taxes,  con- 
trasted with  a  less  than  6-percent  showing  for  properties 
where  both  land  arid  improvements  are  under  the  same 
ownership — indicating  a  somewhat  greater  degree  of 
responsibility  among  home  owners  of  the  latter  type. 

F.  H.  A.  AREA  GRADING  FOR  MORTGAGE 
INSURANCE  PURPOSES 

The  Federal  Housing  Administration  has  graded 
virtually  all  urban  areas  throughout  the  country  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  their  eligibility  for  mort- 
gage insurance.  Under  no  condition  will  that  agency 
consider  an  application  for  Title  II  insurance  in  a  neigh- 
borhood rated  below  50.  Grades  in  Waverly  range  all 
the  way  from  58,  which  is  considered  "eligible  but  poor," 
to  84  which  is  classed  "good." 

MORTGAGE  STATUS  OF  WAVERLY 

Basic  data  relating  to  the  mortgage  status  of  improved 
residential  property  in  Waverly  were  obtained  from 
records  in  the  Baltimore  City  Hall  and  Courthouse. 
It  is  quite  probable,  however,  that  the  number  of  mort- 
gaged properties  disclosed  and  the  indebtedness  re- 
corded against  them,  somewhat  exceeds  the  actual 
number  of  encumbrances  and  the  amount  of  the  out- 
standing balances. 

Mortgage  liens  on  Baltimore  property  generally  run 
for  a  considerable  period  of  years,  provide  for  stated 

NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


periodical  reductions  and  show  no  formal  courthouse 
record  of  curtailment  until  the  final  installment  has 
been  paid.  Mortgagors,  when  interviewed  during  the 
progress  of  the  survey,  were  frequently  unwilling  or 
unable  to  supply  information  concerning  the  amount 
still  unpaid  on  their  mortgage  indebtedness.  Many 
of  the  mortgagees  are  individuals  and  relatively  small 
and  scattered  loan  companies  which  were  either  in- 
accessible or  were  reluctant  to  provide  the  desired  data. 
Competent  information  on  unpaid  mortgage  balances 
was  therefore  unobtainable.  In  a  considerable  number 
of  cases,  also,  there  is  no  courthouse  record  of  the  exten- 
sion or  foreclosure  of  mortgages  which  are  long  past  due, 
indicating  that,  while  the  borrowers  may  have  paid 
their  obligations  in  full,  they  have  failed  to  file  proper 
release  certificates.  Available  data  are  therefore  inac- 
curate -and  probably  overstate  both  the  number  of 
mortgages  outstanding  and  the  total  amount  remaining 
unpaid  on  them. 

Although  the  figures  which  were  secured  are  undoubt- 
edly inflated,  it  still  appears  that  less  than  40  percent 
of  the  residential  properties  in  Waverly  is  subject  to 
mortgage  encumbrance — as  compared  with  a  national 
average  exceeding  50  percent.4  The  original  amount  of 
the  indebtedness  against  these  properties  represents  less 
than  33K  percent  of  the  value  of  the  structural  improve- 
ments on  them,  as  appraised  during  the  course  of  the 
survey.  This  compares  with  a  national  average  exceed- 
ing 55  percent  for  both  land  and  improvements.6 

While  the  Area's  mortgage  status  thus  appears  to  be 
exceedingly  favorable,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
much  of  the  encumbered  and  unencumbered  property 
is  also  subject  to  an  additional  ground  rent  lien. 

FORECLOSURES 

The  statutes  of  Maryland  make  no  provision  for 
redemption  after  foreclosure,  except  in  the  case  of 
ejectment  from  leased  property.  After  the  leaseholder 
is  ejected,  either  he  or  the  mortgagee  can,  in  equity, 
recover  the  property  within  6  months. 

During  the  20-year  period  between  1919  and  1939, 
from  12  to  14  percent  of  the  mortgages  in  the  Area 
were  foreclosed.  The  annual  rate  of  foreclosure  was 
therefore  slightly  over  six-tenths  of  1  percent — a  note- 
worthy record,  since  the  period  considered  includes  the 
years  1931-33. 

H.  O.  L.  C.  HOLDINGS  IN  WAVERLY 

Mortgages. — As  of  the  date  of  this  report,  the  Home 
Owners'  Loan  Corporation  held  122  mortgages  on 


*  Real  Property  Inventory  made  by  Works  Progress  Administration  covering 
7,651,896  out  of  the  total  17,372,524  urban  dwellings  in  the  United  States.  In  using 
these  data  (or  comparative  purposes,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  changes  in  na- 
tional figures  have  occurred  since  theinventory  was  completed  in  1936.  It  is,  however 
the  most  recent  and  comprehensive  source  of  comparative  data  available. 

» National  Bureau  of  Economic  Research,  New  York. 


21 


Waverly  residential  property,  having  an  unpaid  princi- 
pal value  of  $252,644,  as  against  a  total  appraised 
security  value  of  $373,919.  The  dwellings  so  encum- 
bered represent  approximately  ?K  percent  of  the  1,610 
homes  in  the  Area. 

Of  these  122  loans,  65  were  current  in  the  payment 
of  monthly  installments,  44  were  hi  arrears  for  not 
exceeding  12  months,  12  were  delinquent  for  12  months 
or  more  and  1  was  in  process  of  foreclosure.  Below 
is  a  comparison  of  the  status  of  the  Corporation's 
Waverly  loans  with  its  national  figures. 


Table  No.  8 
STATUS  OF  H.  O.  L.  C 

LOANS 

Delinquency 

National 

Waverly 

Not  in  default 

Percent 
76 

Percent 
53 

N"ot  Ovpr  1  2  Tnont.hs 

16 

36 

12  months  or  over  '                        ... 

7 

10 

In  suspense,  etc  

1 

1 

I  But  not  in  suspense,  etc. 

While  the  percentage  of  Waverly  loans  in  default  is 
substantially  above  the  national  average,  the  propor- 
tion of  those  which  are  either  current  or  not  more  than 
12  months  delinquent,  virtually  equals  that  average. 

Acquired  Property. — Incident  to  its  operations,  the 
Corporation  acquired  title  to  28  properties  in  the  Area. 
At  the  date  of  this  report,  8  of  them  have  been  resold, 
and  of  the  20  which  it  still  owns,  14  have  been  rented 
and  6  are  being  held  vacant  for  reconditioning,  as  a 
precedent  to  sale  or  rental.  Drawing  No.  7  locates  all 
H.  O.  L.  C.  acquired  and  mortgaged  properties  in  the 
Waverly  area. 

APPRAISED  VALUE 

Depreciation,  which  is  the  difference  between  the  re- 
production cost  of  a  property  and  its  "as  is"  value,  is  of 
three  types: 

Physical  depreciation  is  calculated  on  the  basis  of 
observed  condition  and  estimated  loss  sustained  through 
wear  and  tear,  deterioration  of  structural  units  and  me- 
chanical equipment,  and  may  be  described  broadly 
as  the  approximate  cost  necessary  to  replace,  repair,  or 
preserve  any  or  all  parts  of  the  physical  building 
which  have  been  affected  by  action  of  the  elements  or 
destructive  forces  such  as  insects,  fungus,  seepage,  or 
decay.  It  is  not  to  be  confused  with  either  functional 
or  economic  depreciation. 

Functional  depreciation  is  the  estimated  loss  of  value 
due  to  architectural  undesirability,  inconvenient  inter- 
ior arrangement,  radical  exterior  design,  excessive  un- 


22 


usable  space,  improper  placement  upon  the  plot  or  any 
of  the  numerous  characteristics  inherent  in  the  struc- 
ture which  create  obsolescence  from  a  utility  stand- 
point. This  figure  is  calculable  by  comparison  with 
typical  structures  of  similar  proportion  and  actual  or 
probable  utility. 

Economic  depreciation  is  the  estimated  loss  of  value 
due  to  influences  affecting  the  neighborhood  in  general 
and  the  subject  property  in  particular.  Transition  to 
lower  living  standards  due  to  infiltration  of  undesirable 
racial,  industrial  or  commercial  elements  are  definite 
factors.  Any  changes  of  utility,  whether  from  single 
residence  to  rooming  house  or  converted  apartments, 
should  be  recognized.  Unusual  competition  from  any 
cause,  the  oversupply  of  institutionally  owned  proper- 
ties, new  developments  which  detract  from  typical 
accommodations  or  other  local  conditions  should  be 
considered.  High  general  tax  assessment  or  special 
improvement  taxes  which  are  excessive  according  to 
local  income  standards,  the  opening  or  closing  of 
through  highways,  manufacturing  plants,  etc.,  always 
affect  the  community  to  a  greater  or  lesser  degree. 
Other  local  conditions  not  mentioned — such  as  income, 
physical  comfort,  or  the  desirability  of  the  location 
generally — may  also  exert  an  economic  force  upon  the 
community  or  its  inhabitants. 

Based  on  the  field  examination  and  on  a  thorough 
office  study  made  by  Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation 
technicians,  the  original  reproduction  cost  of  all  resi- 
dential structures  in  Waverly  has  been  estimated  at 
$7,071,193,  total  depreciation  at  $2,459,867,  and  "as  is" 
value  at  $4,611,272.  The  appraised  present  value  is 
therefore  approximately  6  percent  less  than  the  amount 
shown  in  table  No.  9  at  which  these  buildings  were 
assessed  for  tax  purposes  in  1939. 


Table  No.  9 

APPRAISED  VALUE 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Reproduction 
cost 

Physical  de- 
preciation 

Functional- 
economic 
depreciation 

Total  depreci- 
ation 

"As  is"  ap- 
praised value 

$7,071,139 

$1,  386,  697 

$1,  073,  170 

$2.  459,  867 

$4,  611,  272 

VACANCIES 

In  normal  times,  the  supply  of  houses  available  for 
rent  and  the  curve  of  rental  rates,  together  constitute 
a  reasonably  dependable  barometer  of  the  social  and 
economic  trend  of  a  residential  area.  There  is  a  defi- 
nite relationship  between  vacancies,  permanent  rent 
declines,  and  neighborhood  housing  conditions.  As 
vacancies  increase,  rent  levels  fall,  maintenance  is 
postponed,  the  relative  cost  of  municipal  services 
mounts  and,  paradoxically,  overcrowding  and  average 
occupancy  per  room  increases. 

WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


HOLC 

MORTGAGED  AND  ACQUIRED 
PROPERTIES  IN  THE 
WAVERLY  AREA 


KEY 

Mortgaged  property 
Acquired  property 


Drawing  No.  7 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


23 


Available  vacancy  and  rent  level  figures  for  the  past 
two  decades  include  those  for  an  economically  abnor- 
mal period  and,  when  used  for  purposes  of  historic 
comparison,  produce  but  a  confused  pattern.  Definite 
inferences  concerning  present  conditions  may,  however, 
be  drawn  from  an  examination  of  current  rent  scales 
and  vacancy  data  in  Waverly. 

Of  the  1,515  single-family  residential  units  surveyed, 
1,496,  or  98.8  percent,  were  found  to  be  occupied.  The 
vacancy  percentage  of  the  Area  is  therefore  compara- 
tively low.  Vacant  dwellings,  of  which  there  were  19, 
or  1.2  percent,  were  well  scattered. 

This  exceedingly  high  ratio  of  occupancy  for  a  dis- 
trict of  its  age  and  kind  indicates,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
satisfaction  of  its  present  residents  with  housing  and 
general  neighborhood  conditions  and,  on  the  other, 
the  readiness  of  prospective  purchasers  and  tenants  to 
move  into  it. 


Table  No.  10 

VACANCIES 

Type 

Total 
struc- 
tures 

Number 
Vacant 

Percent 
of 
total 

Detached  and  semi-detached  
Row  houses 

301 
1,  214 

4 
15 

1.  3 
1.2 

Total 

1,515 

1  19 

1.2 

1  Includes  5  owned  by  Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation. 

RENT  SCALE 

Information  obtained  from  sources  considered  com- 
petent, sets  the  current  WTaverly  rent  scale  at  a  some- 
what higher  level  than  that  for  dwellings  of  similar  age 
and  type  elsewhere  in  Baltimore. 


Table  No.  11 

RENT  SCALE 

Class 

Type 

Rent  range 

Lowest 

Frame                            

i  $15-$20 
20-  35 
35-  50 
50-  75 

'75-  85 

Medium 

Frame  or  brick 

Better 

do 

Good 

do 

Best 

Brick                    ._    . 

1  Includes  approximately  10  units  only. 

Approximately  20  percent  of  the  residential  struc- 
tures in  the  Area  are  tenant  occupied,  at  average  rentals 
ranging  between  $35  and  $50.  In  this  connection,  it  is 


24 


interesting  to  note  that  the  average  monthly  rental 
rate  for  45  principal  cities  throughout  the  United 
States  is  below  $25  and  for  the  southeastern  cities  is 
under  $20. 

FOR  SALE  AND  FOR  RENT 

A  low  rate  of  residential  movement,  which  may  be 
inferred  when  the  supply  of  available  units  is  at  a  mini- 
mum, likewise  reflects  the  desire  of  satisfied  owners  and 
tenants  to  continue  their  present  place  of  residence 
and  indicates  a  sound  social  and  economic  neighbor- 
hood condition. 


Table  Xu.  i'j 

PROPERTY  FOR  SALE  AND  FOR  RENT 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Type 

Total 
struc- 
tures 

Num- 
ber for 
sale  l 

Per- 
cent of 
total 

Num- 
ber for 
rent 

Per- 
cent of 
total 

Detached    and 

•emi-detaohed. 

301 

21 

0.  9 

C 

2.  0 

Row  houses.  .. 
Total 

1,214 

41 

3.3 

13 

1.  1 
1.2 

1,515 

62 

4.0 

19 

1  Includes  20  properties  owned  by  Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation. 

It  is  evident  that  no   residential    surplus    exists   in 
Waverly.    Including  20  residential  structures  now  owned 
by  the  Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation,  only  62  dwell- 
ings— or  4  percent  of  the  homes  in  the  Area — are  offered 
for  sale.     That  only  1.2  percent  of  all  units  are  available 
for  rent  is  also  noteworthy.     The  percentage  of  single- 
family,  detached  and  semi-detached  residences  for  sale 
(6.9  percent)  is  more  than  twice  that  of  the  row  hous 
so  available  (3.3  percent)  and  virtually  the  same  rati 
of  percentages  obtains  in  the  case  of  those  for  rent. 

COMPARATIVE  LEVELS 

At  their  low  point,  real  estate  values  in  Waverlj 
declined  to  about  50  percent  of  their  1926-29  level; 
they  have  now  recovered  to  about  60  percent  of  that 
level.  This  compares  with  a  50-percent  decline  and 
negligible  recovery  in  the  less  desirable  neighborhoods 
of  the  city. 

Rentals  for  modern  brick  row  houses,  particularly  in 
the  better  sections  of  Waverly,  declined  to  an  average 
of  40  percent  of  their  1926-29  level;  they  have  now 
recovered  to  about  60  percent  of  that  level.  The 
decline  in  single-family  B-  and  C-grade  frame  dwellings 
was  about  50  percent  with  a  present  recovery  to  about 
60  percent. 


I 


fPAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


MARKET  encumbered  structures  and  running  for  from  10  to  25 

years,  are  accepted  by  vendors. 

As  is  to  be  expected,  newly  constructed  residences 

sell  more  readily  than  old,  and  there  is  a  more  active  NEW  CONSTRUCTION 
market  for  brick  row  houses  than  for  one-family  de- 
tached frame  dwellings.     Terms  vary  to  fit  the  needs  Permits  for   the  construction   of   16  masonry  resi- 
of  the  purchaser  but,  in  general,  existing  ground  leases  dences  in  Waverly  were  issued  in  1939.     Most  of  these 
are  permitted  to  stand  and  improvement  mortgages,  houses  were  completed  at  the  date  of  this  report,  7  had 
representing  from  70  to  80  percent  of  the  value  of  the  been  sold,  and  9  were  still  unoccupied. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION  25 


Structural  Status 


NEIGHBORHOOD  DEVELOPMENT 

The  earliest  dwelling  in  the  section  now  known  as 
Waverly,  of  which  there  is  any  record,  was  built  in  1830. 
During  the  succeeding  50  years,  residential  construc- 
tion was  confined  almost  entirely  to  a  small  district 
near  what  is  now  the  intersection  of  Wyanoke  Avenue 
and  Argonne  Drive  and  to  the  2  blocks  bounded  by  Old 
York  Road,  Greenmount  Avenue,  Thirty-third  Street, 
and  Thirty-fifth  Street.  In  all  of  that  period,  but  42 
residences  were  built.  During  the  following  10  years, 
construction  accelerated  sharply,  that  decade  account- 
ing for  the  erection  of  almost  4  times  as  many  houses  as 
were  built  during  the  entire  preceding  half  century. 
These  buildings,  the  majority  of  which  were  of  frame 
construction,  were  modest  detached  or  semi-detached 
homes  of  the  various  Victorian  styles  popular  during 
that  era.  Even  as  late  as  1895,  however — except  for 
the  2  small  districts  described  above — Waverly  and  all 
of  the  territory  beyond  it  to  the  east,  north,  and  west, 
was  still  a  farm  and  country  estate  community,  in 
which  frame  construction  predominated  over  masonry 
in  the  ratio  of  3  to  1. 

Building  operations  slackened  during  the  1895-1905 
decade,  but  in  that  period  masonry  construction  for  the 
first  time  exceeded  frame — and  thereafter  virtually  dis- 
placed it.  Volume  began  to  improve  about  1910, 
reached  its  peak  in  the  5  years  immediately  following 
the  close  of  the  World  War — when  over  750  permits 
were  issued — and  began  to  decline  in  1926,  in  sympathy 
with  the  general  slump  in  national  construction. 
Though  there  has  been  marked  improvement  during 
the  past  18  months,  the  total  building  volume  for  the 
decade  ending  with  1939  was  less  than  that  for  any 
similar  period  during  the  past  half  century. 

Frame  structures,  mostly  built  prior  to  1915,  now 
comprise  15.4  percent  of  the  homes  in  Waverly,  and 
masonry  structures,  largely  erected  within  the  decade 
1915-25,  make  up  the  remaining  84.6  percent. 

The  growth  of  the  district,  and  the  consequent 
eastward  movement  of  construction,  is  clearly  indicated 
in  the  accompanying  four  drawings,  Nos.  8,  9,  10,  and 
11.  showing  its  structural  density  in  the  years  1894, 
1906,  1914,  and  1939.  The  transition  from  frame  to 
brick  construction  is  apparent  in  table  No.  13. 


Table  No.  13 

AGE  AND  MATERIAL 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Year  built 

Number  bulit 

Total 

for 
period 

Frame 

Masonry 

1884  and  earlier 

30 
115 
52 
28 
17 
1 
1 
1 
2 

12 
39 
59 
270 
737 
164 
29 
49 
4 

42 
154 
111 
298 
754 
165 
30 
50 
6 

1885-94. 

1895-1004 

1905-14 

1915-24 

1925-29 

1930-34 

1935-39 

No  report 

Total 

247 

1,  3G3 

1,  010 

In  comparatively  recent  years,  Waverly — except  di- 
rectly to  the  south — has  been  quite  rapidly  and  com- 
pletely surrounded  by  residential  developments  which 
include  many  fine  and  costly  modern  homes,  embody- 
ing the  best  in  the  design,  construction  technique,  and 
mechanical  excellence  of  a  late  era.  Thus,  at  the  very 
core  of  one  of  Baltimore's  best — and  still  growing — 
residential  communities,  lies  the  much  older  Waverly 
area  which,  compared  with  the  neighborhoods  that  sur- 
round it  on  three  sides,  has  for  some  years  shown  a  grad- 
ual trend  that  is  opposite  to,  rather  than  parallel  with, 
that  of  its  environs. 


GRADUAL  COORDINATION 


As  so  frequently  happens  in  old  and  slowly  maturing 
communities,  the  Waverly  area  has  an  irregular  and 
unscientific  street  pattern.  Old  homes  are  intermin- 
gled with  newer  structures,  frame  construction  keeps 
company  with  brick,  and  maintenance  ranges  all  the 
way  from  excellent  to  poor.  Clearly  apparent  on 
drawings  Nos.  8,  9,  10,  and  11,  however,  is  a  progressive 
improvement  in  neighborhood  planning,  which  indicat 
a  developing  consciousness  of  the  necessity  for  the 


urine' 


26 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


alinement  and  proper  placement  of  the  structural  com- 
ponents of  a  residential  block  and  for  coordination  in 
the  arrangement  of  streets,  parkways,  and  alleys — 
until  finally  the  last  platted  area,  that  along  Westcr- 
wald  and  Ellerslie  Avenues,  exhibits  a  reasonably  nor- 
mal street,  parkway,  and  alley  design,  uniform  building 
lines,  and  orderly  structural  placement. 

LAND  USE 

In  the  land  use  table  which  follows,  privately  owned 
vacant  lots  are  listed  as  "not  improved."  Property 
improved  for  church,  school,  library,  hospital,  charita- 
ble, park,  playground,  municipal  protective,  and  like 
purposes,  and  city-owned  vacant  land,  is  tabulated  as 
"tax  exempt."  Lots  on  which  there  arc  one-story  row 
garages,  intended  for  rental,  but  which  arc  otherwise 
not  improved,  are  separately  classified  in  table  No.  14 
but  in  subsequent  tabulations  are  included  with  pri- 
vately owned  vacant  lots.  Buildings  originally  de- 
signed primarily  for  business  purposes  are  listed  as 
"commercial  only."  Former  residential  properties,  now 
in  part  converted  to  commercial  use  but  still  also  occu- 
pied as  homes,  are  tabulated  in  tables  Nos.  14  and 
15  as  "commercial  and  residential" — but,  since  their 
commercial  use  represents  nonconformancc  and  is  invar- 
iably subordinate  to  their  residential  use,  they  arc  sub- 
sequently listed  as  "residential  only."  Structures  used 
wholly  as  residences,  whether  detached,  semi-detached, 
or  in  rows,  are  tabulated  as  "residential  only." 
'  There  are  1,748  parcels  of  real  estate  in  the  area,  of 
which  223  are  improved  with  single-family  detached 
residences,  1,214  with  single-family  attached  houses  in 
rows,  78  with  semi-detached  2-family  dwelling  units 
"side  by  side,"  30  with  2-family  dwellings  "up  and 
down,"  12  with  multiple-family  structures,  53  with 
converted  homes  now  used  for  both  business  and  resi- 
dential purposes,  17  with  commercial  structures,  2  with 
small  manufacturing  plants  employing  from  8  to  15 
persons  each,  and  46  with  1-story  commercial  garages 


Table  No.  14 

LAND  USE 

(Unimproved  and  improved) 

Use 

Total 
reported 

Percent 

Not  improved,  privately  owned 

38 

2  2 

Tax  exempt   _ 

35 

2  0 

One-story  row  garages 

46 

2  6 

Commercial  and  industrial  . 

19 

1  2 

Commercial  and  residential 

53 

3  0 

Residential  only  

1,  557 

89  0 

Total  

1  748 

100  0 

in  rows.  In  addition,  there  are  35  lots  which  are 
used  for  religious  or  municipal  purposes  and  are  tax- 
exempt  and  38  which  are  privately  owned  and  are 
unimproved. 

Lots,  as  originally  platted,  frequently  included  a 
street  frontage  far  exceeding  that  required  for  a  single- 
family  dwelling — one  of  the  unimproved  lots  La  block 
No.  4053,  for  example,  has  a  total  frontage  of  495  feet. 
Thus,  there  are  vacant  areas  in  Waverly  still  sufficient 
for  the  construction  of  several  hundred  new  homes. 

RESIDENTIAL  STRUCTURES 

Only  1.2  percent  of  the  property  in  Waverly  is  im- 
proved with  structures  originally  built  for  business 
purposes;  another  3  percent  is  unproved  with  single- 
family  residences  now  also  converted  to  commercial 
use.  Computation  of  the  number  of  residential  struc- 
tures shows  that  row  houses  predominate  in  the  Area, 
as  they  do  in  comparable  neighborhoods  elsewhere  in 
the  city,  over  75  percent  of  the  total  number  of  resi- 
dential buildings  in  the  district  being  of  that  type. 
Virtually  all  of  the  two-family  "side-by-side"  structures 
have  double  ownership  and  they,  together  with  single- 
family  detached  houses,  comprise  approximately  20 
percent  of  the  total.  Only  six-tenths  of  1  percent  are 
multiple-family  structures,  and  less  than  2  percent  are 
single-family,  two-story  dwellings  now  converted  to 
two-family  use. 

When  they  were  newly  built,  these  homes  were 
modern  and  desirable  for  their  era,  type,  and  kind. 
But  better  techniques  were  constantly  being  evolved 
during  the  long  period  of  Waverly's  growth  and,  con- 
sequently, the  Area  today  provides  a  virtually  complete 
cross-section  of  the  development  of  small-home  func- 
tional, structural,  and  architectural  design  during  the 
past  75  years. 


Table  No.  15 

ANALYSIS  OF  EXIS1ING  RESIDENTIAL 
STRUCTURAL  TYPES 

Type 

Number 
of  struc- 
tures 

Percent 
of  total 
structures 

Single-family,  detached  .. 

223 

1,  214 
78 
30 
6 
G 
53 

13.8 
75.3 
4.7 
1.8 
0.3 
0.  3 
3.8 

Single-family,  row 

2-family,  "side-bv-side"__ 

2-familv,  "up-and-down" 

3-famil3T,  3  floors 

4-family  and  over                 

Commercial  and  residential 

Total 

1,610 

100.  0 

NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


27 


STRUCTURAL 


As  of  1894 


AND  STREET 


Drawings  Nos.  8  and  9 


28 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


DEVELOPMENT 


OF  WAVERLY 


Drawmss  Nos.  10  and  II 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSER  VA  TION 


29 


EXTERIOR  MATERIAL 

Brick  exterior  wall  construction  prevails  in  Waverly. 
Frame  buildings  comprise  only  15.4  percent  of  the 
total  number  of  structures  and  practically  all  of  them 
were  built  prior  to  1915.  Since  that  year,  more  than 
1,000  houses  have  been  constructed  in  the  Area — of 
which  all  but  22  are  masonry. 

Stone  as  an  outside  wall  material  occurs  infrequently 
and  then — with  the  exception  of  three  structures  on 
Thirty-ninth  Street — only  as  an  embellishment  to  brick 
construction.  During  the  early  years  of  the  present 
century,  61  cement  block,  2-family,  "sidc-by-side" 
houses  were  erected,  largely  on  Cator  and  Forty-first 
Street — by  a  builder  who  had  previously  acquired  a 
block-molding  machine,  probably  for  the  purpose  of 
competing  with  the  product  of  a  brickyard  which, 
somewhat  earlier,  had  been  established  adjacent  to  the 
Area  and  was  supplying  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
wall  material  used  in  it.  Occasionally,  in  the  process 
of  rehabilitation,  stucco  or  asbestos  shingles  have  been 
applied  to  an  old  wood  surface,  but  at  least  1,300  of  the 
1,610  structures  in  the  Area  are  of  brick  construction. 


Table  No.  16 

EXTERIOR  MATERIAL 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Material 

Number 

Percent 

Frame 

247 
1,363 

15.4 
84,6 

Masonry 

Total 

1,610 

100.0 

COMMERCIAL  STRUCTURES 

Commercial  structures  in  and  adjacent  to  Waverly 
greatly  vary  in  age.  The  majority  of  them — both  in 
number  and  importance — lie  along  Greenmount  Avenue, 
the  center  of  which  thoroughfare  bounds  the  project  on 
the  west.  They  include  chain  stores,  super-markets, 
ladies'  and  men's  shops,  drug  stores,  bakeries,  groceries, 
meat  markets,  savings  and  loan  association  offices, 
garages  and  repair  shops,  restaurants,  and  theaters. 

That  portion  of  Greenmount  Avenue  which  bounds 
Waverly  on  the  west,  has  a  frontage  of  4,250  feet. 


All  commercial  structures  on  that  frontage,  however, 
are  by  ordinance  confined  to  the  two  blocks  which  lie 
south  of  Thirty-fifth  Street — a  frontage  of  only  850 
feet.  The  frontage  north  of  Thirty-fifth  Street  has 
been  zoned  for  multiple-family  apartment  use  and,  as 
such,  far  exceeds  neighborhood  needs.  Because  its 
present  zoning  status  adversely  affects  the  use  of  all 
residential  property  on  Greenmount  Avenue  north  of 
Thirty-fifth  Street,  it  is  recommended  later  in  this  report 
that  the  present  zoning  ordinance  be  amended  so  as 
to  restrict  it  to  one-  and  two-family  residential  use  only. 


Table  NCI.  17 

RATIO  OF  COMMERCIAL  TO  RESIDENTIAL 
STRUCTURES  > 

Use 

Number 

Percent 

Commercial  and  industrial 

19 
1,610 

1.  16 
98.84 

Residential 

Total 

1,629 

100.00 

'  Commercial  row  garages,  tax-eiempt  lots,  and  unimproved  lots  omitted. 

A  group  of  10  small  shops,  9  of  which  are  housed  in 
converted  dwellings,  has  gradually  developed  along 
the  northern  end  of  Old  York  Road,  in  a  district  zoned 
for  business.  Elsewhere  within  the  body  of  the  Area 
are  44  scattered  former  residences  now  used  also  as 
stores,  only  18  of  which  are  in  areas  zoned  for  com- 
mercial use. 

It  is  evident  that  Waverly  is  predominantly  a 
residential  neighborhood,  dwellings  comprising  98.84 
percent  of  the  total  number  of  structures,  as  against 
only  1.16  percent  of  commercial  buildings. 

As  this  report  is  chiefly  concerned  with  the  problem 
of  residential  property  decline  and  conservation  in 
the  Waverly  area  and  because  the  consolidation  of 
figures  for  commercial  and  residential  properties — 
particularly  where  dollar  values  are  involved — would 
so  distort  calculations  avd  tables  as  to  render  them 
virtually  valueless  for  purposes  of  comparison  and 
analysis,  data  covering  properties  used  primarily  for 
business  purposes  have  been  omitted  from  all  com- 
pilations which  follow,  unless  exception  is  specifically 
noted  in  the  title  of  the  connected  tabulation. 


30 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Structural  Condition 


DEFINITION 

The  residential  desirability  of  a  given  urban  neigh- 
borhood is  largely  influenced  by  its  church,  school,  rec- 
reational, amusement,  and  transportation  facilities;  by 
its  water,  gas,  electric,  sewer,  and  street  pavement  pro- 
vision; by  its  landscaping;  and  by  the  degree  to  which 
its  housing  units  are  standard  in  equipment  and  main- 
tenance. 

The  characteristics  which  render  a  dwelling  substand- 
ard vary  considerably  from  region  to  region  and  from 
city  to  city.  It  is  relatively  difficult,  therefore,  to  set 
up  a  precise  definition  of  the  term  "substandard  hous- 
ing"— but  obsolete  architectural  form,  inconvenient 
interior  arrangement  or  radical  exterior  design,  absence 
or  obsolescence  of  those  plumbing,  heating,  and  light- 
ing facilities  which  are  usual  to  the  locality,  over- 
crowding, abnormal  deterioration,  and  unsafe  condition 
of  the  physical  structure  are  all  factors  which  render  a 
dwelling  unit  substandard. 

INFILTRATION 

Although  it  lies  within  the  boundaries  of  a  large  urban 
center,  Waverly's  population  is  a  fair  cross-section  of 
that  of  the  average  small  American  city.  Many  owners 
have  occupied  their  present  homes  for  a  long  period  of 
years.  While  a  considerable  number  of  the  one-family, 
residential  structures  in  the  Area  arc  unattractive  in 
architectural  design  and  plan,  lack  modern  appointments 
and  equipment,  surfer  from  some  degree  of  deferred 
maintenance  and  invite  undesirable  occupancy,  the 
occupants  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Area's  dwellings 
are  accepted  as  desirable  neighbors.  It  is  for  this 
reason — and  because  a  large  volume  of  comparatively 
recent  brick  construction  has  temporarily  served  to 
lower  the  average  structural  age  and  raise  the  average 
structural  condition  of  the  community — that  the  resi- 
dents of  Waverly  have  not  yet  fully  realized  the  danger 
of  the  infiltration  of  families  having  more  limited  earn- 
ing capacity  and  lower  living  and  civic  standards  than 
their  own,  which  the  comparatively  small  number  of 
depreciated  single  structures  and  structural  groups  at 
various  points  in  the  Waverly  area  is  definitely  en- 
couraging. 


ONE-FAMILY   DETACHED   AND    SEMI- 
DETACHED HOMES 

Lot  frontages  for  detached  houses  average  28  feet, 
which  is  somewhat  greater  than  the  minimum  the  city 
is  expected  to  establish,  in  the  near  future,  for  compara- 
ble construction. 

Approximately  200  of  the  301  detached  and  semi-de- 
tached homes  in  the  Area  are  well  cared  for,  need  no 
remodeling,  and  require  only  minor — if  any — mainte- 
nance repairs.  All  of  them  have  central  heating  plants, 
running  water,  indoor  flush  toilets,  and  comparatively 
modern  bathroom  and  kitchen  equipment.  Like  the 
row  houses  described  below,  they  will  continue  to  at- 
tract a  desirable  class  of  purchasers  and  tenants. 

There  are,  however,  some  100  detached  and  semi- 
detached homes,  35  to  50  years  old,  located  singly  and 
in  groups  in  many  parts  of  the  Area,  which  are  definitely 
depreciated,  both  physically  and  functionally,  and 
which  require  extensive  reconditioning  and  moderniz- 
ing. Drawing  No.  12  on  page  32  shows  the  dispersion 
of  these  sore  spots  and  drawing  No.  24  on  page  54 
shows  the  influence  being  exerted  by  one  of  them. 

Structurally,  these  homes  are  in  a  poor  state  of  repair. 
Their  kitchen  and  bathroom  equipment  and  fixtures 
are  obsolete;  under  some  15  of  them  which  now  have 
no  basements,  excavation  of  a  space  at  least  sufficient 
to  accommodate  central  heating  plants  should  be  made; 
considerable  architectural  revision  is  desirable,  if  they 
are  to  be  restored  to  the  general  standard  of  the  Area. 
They  constitute  definite  neighborhood  sore  spots;  have 
unfavorably  affected  property  values — and  what  may 
perhaps  be  described  as  neighborhood  morale — in  their 
immediate  vicinity;  and  their  adverse  influence  will, 
unless  checked  and  reversed,  eventually  extend  much 
farther  into  the  community.  Immediate  effort  should 
therefore  be  made  to  induce  their  owners  to  bring  them 
back  to  the  general  neighborhood  level,  at  least  so  far 
as  maintenance  is  concerned,  in  substantial  conformity 
to  the  recommendations  embodied  in  the  Master  Plan. 

ROW  HOUSES 

Row  houses  account  for  1,214  residential  units  in 
Waverly.  Although  they  are  scattered  more  or  less 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


31 


EvrlMI 


fiMfJ      -  .     •  •  ;  . 

•Vi    W.,.  ^jdii-^P^" 


ifr'BsiBicwy 


!«:J^Wii\\^ 

MttifTip'V'Tt m  *•  .Si— XV" 


•,•>   .V.  WKJU    H»l.o«irri 


L^N-.'?^^/~~ ~~#*,-'//     ;jj^N  .iT"-^' 


DEPRECIATED  AREAS 


KEY 

Areas  suffering  Irom 
physical  depreciation  due  to 
old  age,  lack  of  maintenance, 
and  unrestricted  land  utilization. 


Drawin3  No.  12 


32 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


indiscriminately  throughout  the  Area,  the  large  majority 
of  them  are  concentrated  in  its  southern  half.  A  few 
date  back  as  far  as  35  years,  but  approximately  80 
percent  of  them  were  constructed  during  the  period 
immediately  following  the  AVorld  War.  The  most 
modern  and  desirable  of  these  row  houses  arc  located 
along  Thirty-third  Street,  the  eastern  end  of  Thirty- 
fourth  and  Thirty-fifth  Streets,  on  Wcstcrwald  Avenue 
and  along  the  whole  of  Ellerslie  Avenue. 

In  design,  arrangement,  kitchen,  bathroom,  and 
mechanical  equipment,  they  conform  to  neighborhood 
standards.  All  have  central  heating  plants — hot  air, 
steam  or  hot  water — and  many  are  equipped  with  oil 
burners.  The  newer  and  higher  priced  have  tiled  baths, 
built-in  tubs,  and  showers.  Practically  all  of  them  are- 
well  maintained  physically  and  pride  of  ownership  is 
demonstrated  by  the  condition  of  lawns  and  the  extent 
of  planting  and  landscaping.  Most  row-house  owners 
have  used  uniform  paint  shades  in  block  groups,  but 
displeasing  evidences  of  individualistic  taste  in  color 
selection  are  occasionally  found.  In  general,  however, 
owners  have  recognized  the  fact  that  the  use  of  uniform 
color  throughout  each  block  adds  to  the  attractiveness 
of  their  homes. 

Except  for  two  contiguous  groups,  more  fully  de- 
scribed in  a  subsequent  section,  only  continued  mainte- 
nance at  the  present  level  and,  in  some  cases,  more 
extensive  planting,  have  been  recommended  for  these 
row  houses. 

Lot  widths  vary  from  14  to  22  feet  and  are  typical  of 
those  on  which  thousands  of  comparable  Baltimore 
homes  arc  built.  They  appear  to  satisfy  and  acceptably 
serve  owners  and  tenants  who  require  homes  of  this 
general  type. 

TWO-FAMILY,  TWO-STORY  HOUSES 

Scattered  generally  throughout  the  Area  are  30  two- 
fan]  ily,  two-story  structures.  Approximately  90  percent 
of  them  are  converted  single-family  dwellings  and 
practically  all  exceed  40  years  in  age.  Predominantly 
of  frame  construction,  they  are  in  a  fair  state  of  repair. 

MULTIPLE-FAMILY  STRUCTURES 

Largely  concentrated  on  the  western  border  of  the 
Area,  along  Greenmount  Avenue,  north  of  Thirty- 
fifth  Street,  are  12  multiple-family  properties,  contain- 
ing a  total  of  51  residential  units.  Of  these  12  struc- 


tures, 9  are  converted  dwellings,  and  3  were  originally 
built  for  multiple-family  use.  All  but  2  of  them  are  of 
frame  construction,  8  are  more  than  40  years  old  and 
all  are  reasonably  well  maintained. 

PLACEMENT 

Failure  to  establish  and  observe  uniform  building 
lines  and  structural  spacings,  is  one  of  the  less  impor- 
tant causes  of  neighborhood  disintegration.  Following 
a  survey  made  some  years  ago  by  the  Board  of  Zoning 
Appeals,  as  a  precedent  to  the  first  zoning  ordinance,  it 
was  estimated  that  50  percent  of  the  single-family,  row 
and  detached  residential  structures  in  Baltimore  do  not 
conform  to  those  standards  of  alinement  and  spacing 
which  accumulating  experience  has  proved  necessary 
for  free  traffic  flow,  safety  at  street  intersections,  and 
health,  as  the  last  is  influenced  by  light  and  air. 

Building  set-back  lines  have  never  been  established 
in  Waverly  and,  too  frequently,  throughout  the  older 
sections  of  the  Area  proper  spacing  and  structural 
alinement  seem  to  have  been  totally  disregarded.  All 
of  the  residences  on  the  western  portion  of  Venablc 
Avenue — for  example — are  detached,  single-f  amily  struc- 
tures, one  room  wide  and  several  rooms  deep,  with  an 
interstructural  space  which  averages  not  more  than  10 
feet.  Necessarily,  windows  are  largely  located  at  the 
front  and  back  of  these  buildings;  window  spacing  and 
placement  fail  to  provide  sufficient  ventilation  and 
light;  and — based  on  present-day  standards — the  build- 
ings are  unsanitary  in  these  respects.  On  the  south 
side  of  Thirty-fifth  Street,  between  Old  York  Road  and 
Westerwald  Avenue,  an  entire  group  of  single-family 
homes  has  been  crowded  on  long  narrow  lots,  with  in- 
sufficient spacing,  restricted  light,  and  inadequate  ven- 
tilation. On  Old  York  Road,  between  Thirty-sixth 
Street  and  Chestnut  Hill  Avenue  is  an  even  worse  ex- 
ample of  irregular  and  fantastic  lot  dimensions,  struc- 
tural overcrowding  and  not  even  the  vague  semblance 
of  a  uniform  building  line,  as  depicted  in  drawing  No.  13 
on  the  following  page. 

This  condition  can  be  rectified  only  gradually.  For 
that  purpose,  proper  set-back  lines  should  at  once  be 
established  throughout  the  Area  and  those  lots  which, 
by  reason  of  their  narrow  frontage,  have  promoted 
improper  structural  spacing,  should  now  be  mapped 
for  progressive  resubdivision  and  enlargement.  As 
later  demolition  and  new  construction  proceed,  proper 
alinement  and  adequate  spacing  for  light  and  air  will 
thus  be  assured. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSER  VA  T1ON 


33 


ci 

3J 


O 
C 


Z 
C 


CHESTNUTHILL     AVENUE 


EXAMPLE  OF  IRREGULAR  BUILDING  ALIGNMENT 


KEY 

Residences 

Garages 

Proposed  building  fines 


Drawing  No.  13 


34 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


Structural  Rehabilitation 


DETACHED  AND  SEMI-DETACHED  HOUSES 

While  the  great  majority  of  the  homes  in  Waverly, 
as  a  whole,  either  need  minor  or  no  current  repairs,  a 
considerable  percentage  of  its  single-family,  detached 
and  semi-detached  houses,  located  in  virtually  all  sec- 
tions of  the  Area,  require  more  or  less  extensive  re- 
conditioning and  modernization.  Group  examples  of 
this  condition  occur  near  the  western  end  of  Venable 
Avenue;  on  Old  York  Road  between  Thirty-third  and 
Thirty-fifth  Streets;  along  the  south  side  of  Thirty- 
fifth  Street  in  the  600  block;  in  the  600  block  on 
Wyanoke  Avenue;  on  Chestnut  Hill  Avenue;  and  along 
the  upper  end  of  Frisby  Street.  Also  scattered  through- 
out the  Area  are  several  smaller  groups  and  individ- 
ual units  which  are  in  need  of  considerable  major 
reconditioning. 


Table  No.  18 

EXTERIOR  CONDITION 

(Single,  semi-detached,  and  two-flat) 

Item 

Good 

Fair 

Poor 

Roofs.          

27 
34 
40 
49 
31 
26 
27 
51 

224 
270 
272 
273 
266 
249 
157 
188 

70 
27 
19 
9 
34 
56 
147 
92 

Chimneys 

Exterior  walls  '     -     ______ 

Foundations 

Porches                -       

Sheet  metal 

Painting               -            -  -      

Sidewalks 

'Except  paint. 

Table  No.  18  groups  Waverly's  331  detached,  semi- 
detached and  two-flat  structures  according  to  exterior 
maintenance  needs.  It  shows  that  28  percent  of  all  of 
the  non-row  housing  structures  in  the  Area  are  in  poor 
condition  and  that  another  57  percent  need  some 
degree  of  repair. 

In  developing  the  Waverly  program,  it  was  necessary 
to  determine  the  best  future  use  of  all  parts  of  the 
district,  in  relation  to  the  development  of  the  city  and 
metropolitan  area,  before  recommendations  for  the 


rehabilitation  of  individual  properties  could  be  intelli- 
gently formulated.  A  summary  of  the  studies  covering 
area  zoning,  population-density  control,  and  street  pat- 
tern adjustment,  made  during  the  survey  and  planning 
phase,  appears  elsewhere  in  this  report  as  Appendix  D. 
Based  on  the  field  survey  and  on  an  office  analysis  of 
each  dwelling  and  its  environment,  a  general  program 
for  the  structural  rehabilitation  of  virtually  all  depreci- 
ated buildings  in  the  district — and,  in  many  cases,  for 
their  architectural  treatment — was  developed.  The 
estimated  cost  of  the  exterior  structural  reconditioning 
and  architectural  treatment  so  recommended  is  approxi- 
mately $150,000. 

PROFIT 

As  is  apparent  in  table  No.  19,  exterior  reconditioning 
will  show  a  profit — in  the  form  of  increased  property 
values — estimated  at  20  percent  over  the  cost  of  the 
work  involved. 

Based  on  a  careful  and  sufficient  sampling,  it  has  been 
estimated  that  the  cost  of  the  interior  decoration, 
structural  repair  and  replacement  of  obsolete  plumbing, 
heating,  and  kitchen  equipment,  which  is  essential  to 
the  restoration  of  these  structures  to  general  neighbor- 
hood standards,  will  be  not  less  than  $50,000,  and  that 
the  ratio  of  resulting  value  increase  to  cost  will  approxi- 
mately duplicate  that  shown  in  table  No.  19  for  exterior 
repairs. 

The  profit  factor,  however,  is  of  only  secondary  im- 
portance in  the  Waverly  conservation  project.  Pres- 
ervation of  social  values  and  protection  of  equities — 
rather  than  general  equity  enhancement — are  its  pri- 
mary purposes. 


Table  No.  19 

EXTERIOR  RECONDITIONING 

(Residential  structures  only) 

"As  is" 
appraised 
value 

"As  recon- 
ditioned" 
value 

Estimated 
cost  of 
recon- 
ditioning 

Increase 
over  cost 
of  recon- 
ditioning 

Percent 
increase 
over 
cost 

$1,  024,  035 

$1,  203,  830 

$149,  022 

$30,  773 

20 

NEIGH UO  K  HOG  D  CONSER  VA  TION 


35 


SUGGESTED    PROGRESSIVE    IMPROVEMENT    IN    LAND 
USE  AT  OLD  YORK  ROAD  AND  VENABLE  AVENUE 


PRESENT 


STEP    I 


STEP    2 


Drawing  No.  I  4 


PRESENT 


STEP 


STEP    2 


FUTURE  ULTIMATE    PLAN 


36 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


DETAILED  STUDIES 

Illustrating  group  structural  studies,  drawing  No.  14 
depicts  a  three-stage  utilization  of  the — now  vacant — 
northwest  and  southwest  corners  of  Old  York  Road 
and  Venable  Avenue. 

Detailed  studies  were  also  made  of  one  or  more 
residential  structures  in  each  block,  the  condition  of 
which  was  found  to  be  below  the  standard  of  mainte- 
nance set  for  the  neighborhood.  Consideration  was 
given  to  the  repair,  remodeling,  modernization,  embel- 
lishment, and  landscaping  necessary  to  restore  the  sub- 
ject dwelling  to  the  highest  feasible  standard,  con- 
sistent with  its  present  economic  and  physical  condition, 
its  surroundings,  and  the  common  plan  for  the  Area  as 
a  whole.  In  this  connection  a  careful  estimate  of  cost 
was  made  and  a  pencil  sketch,  embodying  desirable 
architectural  changes,  was  frequently  prepared. 

When  the  second  stage  of  the  Waverly  program  is 
inaugurated,  each  block  captain  will  be  furnished  with 


a  kit,  made  up  of  structural  rehabilitation  studies,  cost 
estimates,  sketches,  street  revision  maps,  interior  play 
area  plans,  landscaping  recommendations,  etc.,  relating 
to  his  particular  block,  and  with  a  description  of  the 
project  operating  plan  and  objectives.  Thus  he  will 
be  equipped  to  present  visually,  by  means  of  an  exam- 
ple which  may  be  easily  comprehended  by,  and  is  well 
known  to,  each  property  owner  assigned  to  him,  the 
project  approach  to  community  conservation,  with 
particular  reference  to  the  maintenance  level  which  has 
been  established  for  his  own  immediate  neighborhood 
and  for  the  Area  as  a  whole. 

EXAMPLES 

Following  is  the  estimated  cost  of  the  work  recom- 
mended in  connection  with  the  repair  and  remodeling 
study  illustrated  in  drawing  No.  15: 
Add  new  railing  to  porch  roof  and  install  new  porch 

columns $150 

Remove  dormer  and  rebuild  roof  as  shown  on  sketch 92 


EXAMPLE  OF  SUGGESTED  REHABILITATION 


OMIT    P««/«NT 


CHOUSE 
CNIIIMtY  ' 


Before 


After 


Drawing  No.  1  5 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


37 


Change  chimney  cap $10 

Repaint  all  exterior  trim  and  openings  and  restain  shingle 

165 


walls 

New  shrubbery. 


25 


Total—-  $442 

The  estimated  cost  of  the  rehabilitation  program 
shown  in  drawing  No.  16  is  as  follows: 

Alternate 
No.  1         No.  2 

Wrecking  and  repairing $35  $35 

Install  new  terrace,  columns,  entrance,  canopy, 

and  blinds  where  indicated.  _   273  752 

Change  chimney  caps 25  25 

Repaint  all  exterior  trim  and  openings 125  175 

New  shrubbery 25  25 

Total $483       $1,012 

ROW  HOUSES 

There  are  1,214  row-house  units  scattered  throughout 
the  Area,  more  than  900  of  which  were  constructed 
during  the  decade  following  the  World  War.  In  general, 
they  show  definite  evidence  of  pride  in  ownership,  need 
little  or  no  major  remodeling  or  repair  and,  except  for 
additional  planting  and  landscaping  here  and  there, 
require  only  current  maintenance  treatment.  Archi- 
tectural readjustments  are  desirable,  but  not  essential, 
in  two  contiguous  groups  of  identical  design,  one  in  the 
4000  block  on  Greenmount  Avenue  and  the  other  in  the 
500  block  on  Forty-first  Street. 

PROMPT  REHABILITATION  NECESSARY 

Due  to  the  fact  that  approximately  1,000  brick  row- 
house  units  (or  over  60  percent  of  all  dwellings  in  the 
Area)  are  modern  and  comparatively  new,  the  average 
structural  condition  of  the  community  can  be  rated 
"fair  to  good."  Few,  if  any,  of  the  dwellings  in  Waverly 
should  at  this  time  be  classified  as  substandard,  but 
unless  the  definite  physical  and  functional  depreciation 
which  now  marks  a  considerable  number  of  them  is 
promptly  corrected,  that  rating  will  be  justified  within 
a  comparatively  short  period  of  time.  The  recondi- 
tioning which  is  required  is  neither  complex  nor  costly, 
but  the  value  and  residential  desirability  of  the  units 
directly  involved — and  of  their  neighbors — will  be 
adversely  affected  unless  and  until  it  is  completed. 

H.  O.  L.  C.  POLICY 

In  order  (1)  to  put  the  properties  which  it  still  owns 
into  the  best  practical  condition  for  rental  or  sale,  (2) 
to  assist  in  establishing  practical  community  recondi- 
tioning standards,  and  (3)  to  inspire  the  cooperation  of 
other  owners  hi  the  Waverly  Conservation  Program  by 
providing  them  with  outstanding  examples  of  sound 


reconditioning  and  maintenance,  the  Corporation — as 
the  largest  single  property  holder  in  the  Area — is  mak- 
ing such  exterior  and  interior  architectural  alterations 
and  is  performing  such  exterior  and  ulterior  recondi- 
tioning work  as  is  justified  by  the  type,  surroundings, 
and  condition  of  its  acquired  properties  and  by  the  com- 
mon plan  for  neighborhood  stabilization. 

Particularly  in  those  cases  where  the  interior  design 
is  bad,  alterations  are  being  made  which  will  at  least 
equal  and  sometimes  exceed  project  standards  for  sur- 
rounding property.  The  average  cost  of  reconditioning 
the  15  Corporation  properties  which  are  in  need  of  repair 
is  $663 ;  the  average  value  increase  which  it  is  estimated 
will  result,  is  $797. 


Table  No.  20 

RECONDITIONING  OF  H.  O.  L.  C.  ACQUIRED 
PROPERTIES 

Number 
owned 

Appraised 
value  "as  is" 

Estimated 
reconditioning 
cost 

Estimated 
value  "as 
reconditioned" 

i  20 

$62,  725 

$9,  949 

$74,  690 

i  Five  of  which  will  require  no  reconditioning  under  this  program. 

INTERIOR  PLAYGROUNDS 

Waverly  is  markedly  deficient  in  recreational  space, 
particularly  for  younger  children.  Vacant  block  or 
part-block  areas,  suitable  for  formal  city  playgrounds, 
are  nowhere  available  within  the  district.  In  develop- 
ing recreational  facilities  for  Waverly,  an  "interior  play 
area"  scheme  was  therefore  adopted. 

This  plan,  so  successfully  followed  in  Flint,  Mich., 
that  it  is  frequently  referred  to  as  the  "Flint  plan,"  has 
been  used  in  numerous  cities  where  funds  and  open 
space  suitable  for  formal,  city-financed  and  supervised 
playgrounds  are  lacking.  Under  it,  abutting  owners 
lease  or  pool  the  property  which  constitutes  the  core  of 
their  block  and,  with  the  approval  and  cooperation  of 
the  City  Park  Commission  or  an  equivalent  agency, 
landscape  both  the  block  rim — that  is,  the  parkways 
and  private  lawns  along  the  four  encircling  streets — and 
the  proposed  recreational  space.  The  Commission  usu- 
ally supplies  necessary  equipment,  consisting  of  swings, 
sand  boxes,  etc.,  and  subsequently  maintains  both  the 
rim  and  interior  landscaping.  Thereafter,  the  interior 
play  area  is  conducted  by  the  abutting  property  owners 
as  a  joint  enterprise,  wholly  independent  of  municipal 
service  and  control  except  for  planting  maintenance. 

Twelve  Flint  plan  interior  play  areas  have  been  rec- 
ommended in  the  Waverly  Master  Plan  for  develop- 
ment at  the  locations  indicated  in  drawing  No.  17  on 
page  40. 


38 


WAVERJ.Y—A  STUDY  IN 


EXAMPLES  OF  SUGGESTED  REHABILITATION 


BEFORE 


]  ALTERNATE  1 


1.  Wrecking  and  repairing. 

2.  Install    new    entrance    and    blinds    where 

indicated. 

3.  Repaint  all  exterior 

4.  Restain  shingles. 


ALTERNATE  2 


1.  Install    new    porch     columns,     en- 

trance canopy,  and  bitnds  when 
indicated. 

2.  Change  chimney  cap. 

3.  Repaint  all  exterior  trim  and  open- 

ings and  restain  shingles. 

4.  Wrecking  and  necessary  repairs. 


AFTER 


Drawing  No.  16 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


39 


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RECOMMENDED 
PLAYGROUND  DEVELOPMENT 


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Drawing  No.  1  7 


40 


ITAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


Zoning 


ORDINANCE 

Insofar  as  Waverly  is  concerned,  the  general  zoning 
ordinance  enacted  by  the  city  of  Baltimore  in  1926, 
had  three  major  purposes:  (a)  The  prohibition  of 
industrial  operation  within  the  Area;  (6)  the  limitation 
of  occupancy  in  terms  of  building  heights  and  families 
per  acre;  and  (c)  the  definition  of  those  districts  to 
which  commercial  and  multiple  family  structures 
must  be  confined.  It  contained  no  provision  for  the 
removal  of  those  structures,  existing  at  the  time  of  its 
enactment,  which  it  defined  as  nonconforming  and  the 
use  of  these  buildings  can  therefore  be  continued  until 
they  are  reconverted,  demolished,  or  destroyed. 

In  conformity  with  the  symbols  employed  in  the 
zoning  ordinance,  "C-lH"  is  used  in  this  report  to  indi- 
cate a  permitted  population  density  of  80  families  per 
acre — or  a  maximum  of  545  square  feet  for  each 
family — and  the  construction  of  single-family,  two- 
family,  and  row  dwellings  and  multiple-family  apart- 
ments, not  exceeding  3  stories  in  height.  The  symbol 
<:D-40"  is  used  to  indicate  a  density  limitation  of  40 
families  per  acre — or  a  maximum  of  1,089  square  feet 
for  each  family — and  a  use  limitation  which  excludes 
apartments  intended  for  more  than  2  families. 

ZONING  TO  CONTROL  USE-HEIGHT  AND 
POPULATION  DENSITY 

Present  C-l%  area. — That  portion  of  drawing  No. 
18  which  is  screened  and  designated  as  C-l}£  includes 
all  of  Waverly's  frontage  on  Greenmount  Avenue  and 
Thirty-third  Street.  A  population  density  up  to  80 
families  per  acre  and  the  construction  of  apartment 
buildings  up  to  3  stories  in  height  are  thus  permitted 
along  the  entire  western  and  southern  boundaries  of 
the  district.  This  C-lK  area  includes  1,553,580  square 
feet,  or  24.3  acres  out  of  a  total  of  163  acres  in  Waverly. 
Approximately  1,475  families,  in  addition  to  the  445 
which  now  occupy  it,  could  be  housed  within  its  limits, 
were  it  populated  to  the  full  capacity  permitted  by 
ordinance. 

Conversion  to  D-40  classification. — Local  population 
pressure  is  always  one  of  the  chief  factors  that  determine 


the  best  use  of  land  available  for  residential  construc- 
tion or  occupancy.  When  such  pressure  warrants 
intensive  land  use,  a  C-lK  classification — with  its 
higher  assessment  base — is  economically  sound. 

No  such  pressure  and  consequent  need  for  intensive 
land  use  now  exists  or  is  to  be  anticipated,  within  any 
reasonable  period,  on  Greenmount  Avenue  between 
Thirty-fifth  and  Forty-second  Streets,  or  on  Thirty- 
third  Street  between  Old  York  Road  and  Ellerslie 
Avenue.  The  inclusion  of  these  frontages  in  a  C-lH 
classification  has  therefore  long  subjected  them  to  a 
rate  of  taxation  which  is  unwarranted  by  their  present 
or  prospective  use. 

An  examination  of  the  improvements  on  the  west  side 
of  Greenmount  Avenue,  above  Thirty-fifth  Street — 
outside  the  Area  but  directly  opposite  the  property  on 
Greenmount  referred  to  above — bears  out  this  analysis. 
These  structures — doubtless  representing  their  builders' 
collective  opinion  of  the  highest  and  most  practical 
type  of  improvement  for  property  so  located — consist 
largely  of  single  family,  two-story  dwellings,  usually  in 
attached  groups  of  five  or  more.  So  far  as  can  reason- 
ably be  anticipated,  conditions  will  continue  to  limit 
economically  sound  construction  on  both  sides  of 
Greenmount  Avenue — and  on  Thirty-third  Street 
also — to  this  general  type,  thus  entitling  the  property 
to  a  D^40 — instead  of  its  present  C-VA — rating. 

Along  the  west  side  of  Old  York  Road  adjoining  the 
northern  boundary  of  Waverly  is  also  a  considerable 
area  which  is  now  improved  as  a  D-40  district  but  has 
likewise  been  given  a  C-l }{  rating. 

The  project  planning  department  has  recommended 
that  the  land  011  the  east  side  of  Greenmount  Avenue 
between  Thirty -fifth  and  Forty-second  Streets;  that 
on  the  north  side  of  Thirty-third  Street  between  Old 
York  Road  and  Ellerslie  Avenue;  that  on  Old  York 
Road  south  of  Thirty-fourth  Street;  and  that  on  Old 
York  Road  near  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Area  be, 
by  city  ordinance,  converted  to  a  D-40  classification. 
By  so  doing,  property  embracing  1,413,800  square 
feet — or  approximately  21.1  acres — and  including  11 
vacant  and  410  improved  lots,  will  be  more  correctly 
rated  and  values  assessed  for  tax  purposes  sharply 


NEIGHBOR  HOOD  CONSER  VA  TION 


41 


USE  HEIGHT 
RESTRICTIONS 


™: ... 

;;.:,.';  c;:*tii  «* 


'^••--  — u  ,Vf  ''•  |        (•.'«'--• 


PERMITS  80  FAM 
PER  ACRE  WITH 
A  MAXIMUM  OF 
544  Sfl.  FT.  PER 
FAMILY. 


PERMITS  40  FAM 
PER  ACRE  WITH 
A  MAXIMUM  OF 
IO89SQ.  FT.  PER 
FAMILY. 


RECOMMENDED 


Drawing  No.  18 


12 


— A  STUDY  IN 


reduced.     Present  and  recommended  redesignation  is 
indicated  by  screening  on  drawing  No.  18. 

Present  D-lfi  area. — The  zoning  ordinance  classifies 
as  D-40  property  the  unscreened  area  which  is  shown 
on  drawing  No.  18,  embracing  approximately  138  acres 
of  land.  Except  for  the  addition  to  this  area  of  the  421 
present  C-l}£  lots  described  above,  no  change  in  the 
population  density  classification  of  any  part  of  Waverly 
is  recommended. 

ZONING   TO   CONTROL   COMMERCIAL   USE 

Commercial  districts. — The  Baltimore  zoning  ordi- 
nance prohibited  the  use  of  land  in  Waverly  for  indus- 
trial purposes.  By  its  terms,  two  areas  were  set  apart 
for  commercial  use — one  along  Greenmount  Avenue 
between  Thirty-third  and  Thirty-fifth  Streets  and  the 
other  on  Old  York  Road  between  Wyanoke  Avenue  and 
Forty-first  Street. 

The  first  of  these  districts,  comprising  an  area  of 
approximately  4  acres,  is  improved  with  31  structures 
of  various  types,  ranging  from  dilapidated  frame  to 
modern  brick,  and  of  various  ages,  up  to  60  years  or 
more.  It  includes  chain  and  individually  owned  food, 
clothing,  drug  and  automobile  supply  stores,  together 
with  markets,  restaurants,  theatres,  etc.,  amply  suffi- 
cient in  number  and  diversification  for  the  Waverly 
area  and  for  the  other  residential  communities  immedi- 
ately adjacent  to  it.  A  second  district  has  been  zoned 
for  commercial  use  near  the  northern  end  of  Old  York 
Road  and  comprises  16  small  shops,  offering  a  varied 
type  of  merchandise  and  services.  Nine  of  these  enter- 
prises are  housed  in  Converted  dwellings  and  seven  in 
buildings  constructed  for  business  or  combined  business 
and  apartment  purposes. 

Drawing  No.  19  on  the  following  page  indicates,  by 
screen,  (1)  the  two  districts  at  present  zoned  for  com- 
mercial use,  and  (2)  the  sections  to  which  it  is  recom- 
mended such  use  be  hereafter  limited. 

Noncortfarmance. — It  is  a  generally  accepted  prin- 
ciple, among  students  of  urban  problems,  that  non- 
conformance  to  existing  land-use  restrictions  definitely 
promotes  property  depreciation  and  encourages  neigh- 
borhood decay.  Two  small  factories — one  manufac- 
turing potato  chips  and  the  other  musical  instruments, 
each  employing  from  8  to  15  persons,  and  a  coal  yard, 
all  located  near  Greenmount  Avenue  and  indicated  in 
drawing  No.  21  as  being  used  industrially — constitute 
perhaps  the  most  important  nonconforming  land  utiliza- 
tion in  Waverly.  In  addition,  some  26  stores,  housed 
in  converted  residences,  devoted  largely  to  food  dis- 
tribution and  almost  all  dating  from  the  prezoning 
period,  are  scattered  singly  and  in  groups  in  noncom- 
mercial districts  throughout  the  Area.  The  present 
location  of  these  nonconforming  structures  is  shown  in 


drawing  No.  19  and  the  condition  of  the  Area,  in  this 
respect,  when  such  structures  shall  have  been  elimi- 
nated and  the  present  Old  York  Road  shopping  center 
relocated  on  Thirty-ninth  Street,  is  also  indicated. 
These  nonconforming  structures  now  adversely  affect 
the  value  of  neighboring  property  in  many  parts  of 
Waverly,  but  since  the  zoning  ordinance  does  not  pro- 
vide for  their  elimination,  return  to  a  proper  land-use 
status  must  await  their  reconversion,  voluntary  demoli- 
tion, or  destruction. 

Henceforth  the  residents  of  the  Area  as  a  whole  must 
actively  cooperate  in  the  rigid  enforcement  of  those 
ordinance  provisions  which  relate  to  population  density 
and  land  utilization,  if  the  development  of  future  infec- 
tion foci  of  a  similar  nature  is  to  be  prevented.  This,  of 
course,  can  best  be  accomplished  through  the  medium 
of  a  watchful  and  aggressive  community  organization. 

ZONING  ADJUSTMENTS 

The  eastern  half  of  block  4049-C,  containing  approx- 
imately VA  acres  and  bounded  by  Thirty-fourth  Street, 
Old  York  Road,  and  Thirty-fifth  Street,  is  now  included 
in  an  area  permitting  business  use.  Since  there  appears 
to  be  no  present  or  prospective  commercial  demand  for 
this  property,  its  transfer,  by  ordinance,  to  a  D-40 
classification — with  a  consequent  stabilization  of  values 
and  a  considerable  reduction  in  the  base  on  which  it  is 
taxed — has  been  recommended. 

Block  404 9-B,  bounded  by  Thirty-third  Street, 
Greenmount  Avenue,  Thirty-fourth  Street,  and  Old 
York  Road,  should  remain  as  it  now  is — a  wholly  com- 
mercial area,  so  that  present  nonconforming  use  else- 
where may  be  consolidated  into  a  single  central  shop- 
ping section,  as  shown  in  drawing  No.  19. 

A  comprehensive,  long-term  program  should  be  devel- 
oped for  the  purpose  of  transferring  the  commercial 
enterprises  now  segregated  along  the  northern  reaches 
of  Old  York  Road — a  location  and  a  thoroughfare 
wholly  unsuited  to  commercial  use — to  a  new  location  on 
Thirty-ninth  Street,  near  the  junction  of  Ellerslic 
Avenue  and  Argonne  Drive,  as  also  indicated  in  drawing 
No.  19. 

Drawing  No.  20  shows,  in  greater  detail,  (a)  the  area 
on  lower  Greenmount  Avenue  which  is  at  present  zoned 
for  commercial  use,  and  (6)  proposed  building  lines  and 
the  area  to  which  the  project  planning  department  has 
recommended  business  hereafter  be  restricted. 

Approval  of  the  Commission  on  City  Planning  will, 
of  course,  be  a  necessary  precedent  to  any  legislation  de- 
signed to  readjust  present  zoning  regulations.  In  this 
connection,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Commission 
is  at  this  time  considering  the  return,  to  a  "residential- 
only"  status,  of  several  hundred  acres  elsewhere  in  the 
city,  which  are  now  zoned  for  business. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


43 


COMMERCIAL  ZONING 
RESTRICTIONS 


RECOMMENDED 


Drawing  No.  19 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


PRESENT 


RECOMMENDED 


]    COMMERCIAL 
RESIDENTIAL 


80  families  per  acre 

RESIDENTIAL 

40  families  per  acre 


LAND  USE  AND  BUILDING  LINE 
RESTRICTIONS 


Drawing  No.  20 


NEIG  HBORHOOD  CONSER  VA  TION 


45 


Street  Adjustments 


IRREGULAR  STREET  PATTERN 

As  the  result  of  the  informal  and  opportunistic 
method  of  their  development,  Wavcrly's  streets  are 
often  too  narrow,  jog  here  and  dead-end  there,  angle  and 
turn,  run  for  a  block  and  are  forever  lost,  or  die  at  one 
point  to  begin  again  farther  on;  general  street  widths 
are  far  from  uniform  and  even  change  from  point  to 
point  on  the  same  street;  blocks  are  irregularly  shaped 
and  considerable  areas  are  without  adequate  street 
access. 

Old  York  Road,  one  of  the  first  streets  on  which  resi- 
dential construction  was  undertaken,  for  example,  is 
narrow,  varies  in  width  from  point  to  point,  has  mean- 
ingless curves  and  directional  changes,  an  irregular 
block  pattern,  fantastically  shaped  lots,  poor  alinemcnt, 
bad  structural  spacing  and  was  evidently  developed 
quite  by  accident,  as  have  been  so  many  other  country 
roads. 

Frisby  Street  begins  at  Thirty-third  Street,  runs  a 
half  block  and  apparently  ends  at  an  alley  crossing; 
appears  again  at  Thirty-fifth  Street,  continues  for  a 
few  blocks  and  disappears  at  Chestnut  Hill  Avenue; 
comes  to  life  once  more  at  Thirty-ninth  Street,  runs  for 
a  block  and  finally  dies. 

Most  of  these  early  streets  are  thus  subject  to  grave 
irregularities  and  deficiencies.  As  the  later  extension 
of  Venable  Avenue,  Thirty-fourth  Street,  and  Thirty- 
fifth  Street  became  necessary,  with  the  growth  of  the 
community,  they  too  struck  out  at  odd  angles,  some- 
times with  interrupted  or  dead  ends — but  with  some 
slight  regard  of  a  more  orderly  development,  indicating 
a  slow  awakening  to  the  necessity  for  longer  range  plan- 
ning. When,  subsequent  to  the  war,  large-scale,  brick 
row-house  development  began  in  the  eastern  portion  of 
the  Area,  reasonably  orderly  and  scientific — but,  un- 
fortunately, unrelated — street  patterns  were  adopted. 

None  of  the  factors  which  now  govern  district  and 
city  street  planning  was  considered  in  the  early  devel- 
opment of  Waverly's  thoroughfares.  The  entire  terri- 
tory between  Thirty-third  Street  on  the  south,  Forty- 
second  Street  on  the  north,  Greenmount  Avenue  on  the 
west  and  Ellerslie  Avenue  and  Argonne  Drive  on  the 
east,  was  therefore  carefully  studied,  during  the  Project 


planning  period,  for  the  purpose  of  working  out  prac- 
tical proposals  for  more  orderly  street  arrangement— 
within  practical  limitations — and,  likewise,  for  better 
land  use,  more  uniform  building  lines  and  the  eventual 
elimination  of  noncon forming  land  utilization.  The 
results  of  these  studies  were  embodied  in  the  Waverly 
Master  Plan  and  have  been  informally  presented  to  tho 
Baltimore  Commission  on  City  Planning,  with  the  rec- 
ommendation that  they  be  included  in  its  general  plan 
study  of  the  entire  city  of  Baltimore,  in  due  course  to 
be  carried  out  under  its  jurisdiction  in  accordance  with 
the  City  Council's  Ordinance  No.  1429,  approved  by 
vote  of  the  people  of  Baltimore  on  May  5,  1939. 

RECOMMENDED  CHANGES 

Tlie  street  adjustment  proposals  which  have  been 
incorporated  in  the  Waverly  Master  Plan  include  the 
following: 

A.  New  streets. — Land  acquisition,  concrete  paving, 
curbs,    gutters,    sidewalks,    necessary    utilities,    and 
street  openings. 

Project  No.  1.  Dumbarton  Avenue — extended  from 
Ellerslie  due  north  to  a  block 
above  Belgian  Avenue. 

2.  Ellerslie    Avenue — to    be    opened 

and     improved    from    Belgian 
Avenue  to  Argonne  Drive. 

3.  East    Thirty-seventh  Street — to   be 

extended  from  Old  York  Road 
to  Greenmount  Avenue. 

4.  Frisby  Street — to    be    opened    up 

from    Thirty-third    to    Belgian 
Avenue. 

B.  Paving. — Concrete   paving,    curbs,   gutters,    and 
sidewalks. 

Project  No.  1.  Venable  Avenue — from  Old  York 
Road  to  Westerwald  Avenue. 

2.  Chestnut  Hill  Avenue — from   Old 

York  Road  to  Frisby  Street. 

3.  Wyanoke  Avenue — from  Old  York 

Road  to  intersection  of  Wilsby 
Street. 


46 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


STREET  PLAN  OF 
WAVERLY  AREA 


RECOMMENDED 


Drawing  No.  2) 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


47 


4.  Dumbarton    Avenue — from     alley 

east  of  Wilsby  to  Ellerslie  Ave- 
nue. 

5.  Belgian    Avenue,    east    Forty-first 

Street  and  Cator  Avenue — 150 
feet  east  on  each  street. 

C.  Conversions. — Closing  street  to  vehicular  traffic, 
and  converting  street  bed  to  park  space. 

Project  No.  1.  Wilsby   Avenue — from    Cator    to 

Wyanoke  Avenue. 

2.  Lowndes  Avenue — from  Wyanoke 
to  Argonne  Drive 

D.  Closings. — Complete   closing   to   provide   better 
utilization  of  land. 

Project  No.  1.  Wester wald  Avenue — from  Thirty- 
fourth  to  Thirty-fifth  Streets. 

2.  Tinges  Lane — from  Thirty -fourth 

to  Vcnable  Avenue. 

3.  Argonne   Drive — from   Old   York 

Road  to  Ellerslie. 

4.  Belgian,  east  Forty-first  Street  and 

Cator  Avenue — from  point  150 
feet  east  toward  Alameda  Ave- 
nue. 

5.  Central   Avenue — from    Cator    to 

new  section  of  Dumbarton  Ave- 
nue. 

Certain  other  desirable  adjustments,  such  as  the 
widening  of  Old  York  Road  and  Greenmount  Avenue, 
have  been  omitted  from  these  recommendations.  It  is 
believed,  however,  that  the  acceptance  by  the  commu- 
nity of  the  improvements  scheduled  above,  will  inspire 
further  modifications,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  reloca- 
tion of  present  building  lines,  in  order  to  control  future 
construction  on  Old  York  Road  and  Greenmount  Ave- 
nue, in  anticipation  of  the  eventual  widening  of  these 
thoroughfares,  Their  width  could  thus  be  increased 
progressively,  over  a  considerable  period  of  time,  at  a 
comparatively  low  cost,  following  the  plan  which  has 
been  so  successfully  adopted  for  that  purpose  by  many 
European  cities. 

Drawing  No.  21  on  the  preceding  page  depicts  (lie 
present  street  pattern  of  Waverly  and  the  recommended 
alterations  in  that  pattern. 

COST 

The  unit  prices  used  for  estimating  street  and  utility 
costs  were  obtained  from  the  city  engineer's  office  in 
Baltimore.  Land  acquisition  cost  is  based  on  the  pres- 
ent assessed  value  of  the  entire  area  of  each  lot  affected 
by  the  various  improvements. 

The  cost  of  all  street  and  utility  improvements  rec- 
ommended for  the  Area  is  estimated  as  follows: 


New  streets $192,605 

Paving..                                                           33,196 

Conversions 6,000 

Closings 3^200 


Total...  $235,001 

PAYMENT 

Methods  by  which  it  is  suggested  the  city  of  Balti- 
more can  pay  for  the  above  improvements  include: 

1.  Special  paving  tax. — The  frontage  serviced  by  this 
improvement  is  approximately  64,000  lineal  feet.     A 
special  tax  of  $0.15  per  foot  a  year  would  yield  an  annual 
income  of  $9,600.     A  25-year  bond  issue  would  cover 
the  improvements. 

2.  Ordinance  No.  789. — In  the  ordinance  the  city  of 
Baltimore  would  pay  one-third  of  the  costs  and  the 
individual  owners  the  remaining  two-thirds. 

Assessed  value  of  entire  Area,  $5,878,073. 
Potential  annual  income  from  the  Area  based  on 
present  tax  rate  of  $2.65  per  $100,  $155,800. 


AREA  OCCUPIED 

The  area  now  occupied  by  streets  and  alleys 
Waverly  has  been  estimated  at  28  percent  of  the  total 
district.  The  recommended  adjustments  described 
above  will  increase  that  area  by  approximately  5 
percent. 

Drawing  No.  22  comprises  two  maps,  one  showing 
the  present  structural  and  street  plan  of  the  Area,  the 
other  showing  the  structures  and  streets  as  developed 
in  the  Master  Plan. 

DETAILED  DESCRIPTION,    JUSTIFICATION, 
AND  ESTIMATE 

A  detailed  description,  justification,  and  cost  estimate 
of  street  opening,  widening,  paving,  conversion,  and 
closing  appears  at  the  end  of  this  report  as  Appendix 
D.  A  brief  study  of  the  physical  and  economic  aspects 
of  two  of  these  proposed  street  readjustments  will 
suffice  here  to  indicate  the  benefits  which  may  be 
expected  to  flow  fro:n  that  phase  of  the  project  as  a 
whole. 

VENABLE  AVENUE 

The  development  of  Venable  Avenue,  eastward  from 
Greenmount,  is  an  example  of  the  informal  type  of 
Waverly's  street  growth.  That  thoroughfare  extended 
itself  as  fast  as  building  operations  proceeded  eastward. 
When  construction  on  Venable  Avenue  ceased,  as  it 
did  about  the  year  1923,  the  street  halted  opposite  the 
last  house  built  and  somewhere  thereabouts  faded  out  in 
a  dead  end,  at  an  indeterminate  point,  in  an  unplatted 
area.  In  considerable  measure,  these  uninspiring  street 


48 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


STREET  AND 
STRUCTURAL  PLAN 

WAVERLY  AREA 


&*«gfaa  fS^^^f^' 

^S^iv/j*^» '•'"-. 

UT-Hr     -*  £•''!  "••"'"« '*•  '  •**  S? 
&SP1.'  ~  «"•-.  »iw>  -•*--«  1* 


RECOMMENDED 


Drawing  No.  22 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


49 


conditions  are  reflected  in  the  excessive  functional  and 
economic  deterioration  of  the  old  frame  houses  on  the 
north  side  of  Venable  Avenue. 

If  the  recommendations  of  the  Master  Plan  are  carried 
out,  the  cost  of  reconditioning  these  properties  will  be 
recaptured  and,  in  addition,  an  amount  considerably  in 
excess  of  this  expenditure  will  be  added  to  their  value. 
At  least  a  portion  of  this  increase  is  attributable  to  the 
proposed  street  adjustments.  The  same  approximate 
ratio  should  hold  in  like  neighborhoods  elsewhere  in  the 
district,  when  similar  improvements  are  completed. 

Caught  in  the  transition  from  frame  to  brick  con- 
struction, situated  on  a  dead-end  street,  and  lying 
opposite  dwellings  which  are  subject  to  excessive 
depreciation,  the  value  of  a  considerable  tract  of  vacant 
property  on  the  south  side  of  Venable  Avenue,  having 
a  frontage  of  377  feet,  has  likewise  been  unduly  de- 
pressed. Completion  of  the  proposed  street  revisions 
will  serve  to  increase  the  value  of  this  (at  present 
virtually  unmarketable)  vacant  frontage,  not  only  by 
providing  it  with  better  traffic  circulation  but  also 
because  improved  maintenance  of  homes  which  lie  op- 
posite this  vacant  tract  will  be  of  direct  benefit  to  it. 


Table  No.  21 

STRUCTURAL    RECONDITIONING 

(Venablc  Avenue,  block  40f>3,  land  and  structures) 

Street  No. 

Value 

En- 
hance- 
ment 

Cost 

Increase  over 
cost 

Before 

After 

Amount 

Per- 
cent 

600..    .. 
602  
604 

$3,  500 
3,600 
3.  500 
3,500 
3,350 
3,200 
3,200 
2,800 
3,000 
3,500 
3,250 

$4,  500 
4,250 
4,250 
4,000 
4,000 
3,700 
3,  800 
3,700 
3,800 
4,  200 
4,000 

$1,  000 
650 
750 
500 
650 
500 
600 
900 
800 
700 
750 

$685 
235 
407 
292 
309 
267 
338 
597 
534 
335 
450 

$315 
415 
343 
208 
341 
233 
262 
303 
266 
365 
300 

46 
134 
85 
71 
110 
124 
77 
51 
50 
109 
66 

606  
608 

610 

612 

614 

till1, 
618  ' 

620 

Drawing  No,  23 


RECOMMENDED  STREET  AND 
ALLEY  IMPROVEMENTS 


KEY 

l:i:iii!!:iil  New  streets 
I  I   New  alleys 

Street  closings 


Southern  section  of  Waverly 


50 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Table  No.  22 

EFFECT  ON  VACANT  FRONTAGE 
(377  feet  on  Venable  Avenue  corner  of  Old  York  Road) 


Appraised   value,   upon   completion   of  street  im- 
provements and  structural  reconditioning $8,  000 

Appraised  present  market  value $4,000 

Estimated  cost  of  street  improvements,  etc.    1,  600 


Total 5,600 


Estimated  value  increase $2,400 


Table  No.  23 

EFFECT  ON  VACANT  FRONTAGE 
(Lot  85— south  side  of  proposed  extension  on  Venable  Avenue) 


Appraised  value,   upon   completion  of  street  im- 
provements and  structural  reconditioning $6,  700 

Appraised  present  market  value $2,  500 

Estimated  cost  of  street  improvements,  etc_     1,  200 


Total 3,700 


Estimated  value  increase $3,  000 


FRISBY  STREET 

After  it  has  proceeded  northward  for  a  short  half 
block,  Frisby  Street  reaches  a  stub  end  and  temporarily 
dies  at  the  alley  line  north  of  Thirty-third  Street. 
Just  beyond  its  apparent  terminus  is  a  vacant  area, 
designated  as  lot  85,  embracing  approximately  17,500 
square  feet  of  land  which  is  now  wholly  without  street 
access  and  is  therefore  not  susceptible  to  normal  resi- 
dential improvement.  The  extension  of  Frisby  Street 
and  of  the  western  section  of  Venable  Avenue,  as  pro- 
posed, will  open  to  building  construction  approxi- 
mately 1,150  lineal  feet  of  new  street  frontage  in  that 
block  and  adjacent  areas  and  should  materially  increase 
the  present  value  of  this  property. 

Drawing  No.  23  sets  out  in  greater  detail  a  typical 
example  of  the  street  and  alley  adjustments  which  have 
been  recommended  in  the  Master  Plan. 

While  the  primary  purpose  of  the  Waverly  conserva- 
tion  project  is  the  stabilization  of  social  and  economic 


values  in  the  Area,  the  fact  that,  by  joining  in  it,  home 
owners  will  frequently  enhance  the  value  of  their  in- 
vestments, should  further  stimulate  their  interest  and 
cooperation . 

DIVISIONAL  STUDY 

Waverly,  as  a  whole,  presents  a  confused  structural 
and  economic  pattern,  hi  which  varying  building  types, 
materials,  ages,  uses,  placements,  coverages,  etc.,  mingle 
indiscriminately.  Some  phases  of  its  general  trend  are 
therefore  difficult  to  classify.  So  that  during  the  survey 
and  planning  phase  of  the  program  certain  related 
factors  could  be  segregated,  grouped  and  analyzed  more 
accurately  than  would  have  been  possible  if  the  entire 
Area  had  been  used  as  the  observation  unit,  Waverly 
was  broken  down  for  economic  study  into  six  broadly 
similar  districts,  designated  by  letters  from  A  to  F. 
The  analysis  of  one  of  these  sections — District  A — 
appears  hereafter  as  Appendix  A. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


51 


Rehabilitation  Financing 


In  developing  an  urban  residential  conservation  pro- 
gram, it  is  usually  found  that  those  properties  which 
need  little  or  no  repair  and  rehabilitation — and  which, 
therefore,  do  not  threaten  neighborhood  economic  and 
social  standards— are  owned  by  persons  who  are  finan- 
cially able  to  complete  the  necessary  improvements  with 
little  or  no  assistance.  Conversely,  those  properties 
which  most  need  repair,  modernization,  and  embellish- 
ment— and  which  therefore  cannot  be  omitted  from  a 
general  stabilization  program  without  seriously  injuring 
it — are  generally  owned  by  those  who  most  need  help 
in  financing  improvement  cbsts. 

If  the  Waverly  conservation  project  is  to  be  carried 
through  substantially  as  it  is  set  up  in  the  Master  Plan, 
the  cost  of  the  recommended  home  improvements 
must,  in  many  cases,  be  supplied  through  a  financing 
medium  easily  and  cheaply  available  to  those  property 
owners  who,  though  willing  to  join  in  the  program, 


are  unable  to  advance  the  cost  of  their  contemplated 
repairs  and  rehabilitation.  That  these  owners  might 
have  definite  assurance  of  such  improvement  loans,  an 
examination  of  possible  loan  sources  was  made  con- 
currently with  the  field  survey.  This  examination 
made  evident  the  fact  that  eligible  borrowers  will  have 
little  or  no  difficulty  in  securing  necessary  repair  and 
reconditioning  loans  (a)  from  first-mortgage  lenders  on 
properties  which  are  at  present  unencumbered;  (6) 
from  financial  institutions  which  are  willing  to  increase 
the  amount  of  their  existing  first-mortgages  on  Waverly 
homes;  and  (c)  from  local  lending  institutions — -includ- 
ing commercial  banks,  savings  and  loan  associations 
and  character-loan  banks — many  of  which  now  actively 
solicit  repair  loans  insured  under  Title  I  of  the  National 
Housing  Act. 

A  detailed  review  of  the  products  of  this  survey 
appears  as  Appendix  B  at  the  end  of  this  report. 


52 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Conclusions 


NEIGHBORHOOD   DECLINE  THROUGH   MOVE- 
MENT TOWARD  THE  URBAN  RIM 

The  structural,  economic,  and  social  life  cycle 
through  which  the  average  American  residential  com- 
munity passes  begins  with  its  birth  in  response  to  a 
demand  for  additional  or  more  modern  housing.  It 
then  enjoys  a  life  of  normal  use,  often  covering  a  con- 
siderable number  of  years,  but  gradually  obsolescence 
accelerates,  neighborhood  maintenance  is  somewhat 
neglected  and  those  families  which  are  economically 
able  to  do  so  begin  to  move  further  out  toward  the 
urban  rim. 

Undesirable  residents  move  into  the  neighborhood 
when  the  first  of  its  homes  is  permitted  to  fall  below 
the  standard  of  maintenance  set  by  adjoining  properties 
and  is  consequently  rented  or  sold  at  a  price  below 
that  of  the  general  community  level.  Though  more 
or  less  physically  depreciated,  this  dwelling  will  usually 
provide  its  new  occupants  with  accommodations  that 
are  at  least  as  good  as  those  out  of  which  they  have 
just  moved  and — by  reason  of  their  previous  environ- 
ment and  present  economic  status — they  will  generally 
continue  to  be  satisfied  with  a  maintenance  standard 
below  that  of  the  balance  of  the  neighborhood.  Thus 
a  definite  blight  infection  spot  is  established. 

As  the  structural  maintenance  of  the  neighborhood 
is  further  neglected,  the  process  of  decay  continues, 
investment  and  rent  values  fall  and  blight  increases, 
until  finally  the  area  emerges  as  a  recognizable  city 
slum,  in  which  values  reflect  a  tremendous  financial 
loss,  dwellings  have  become  unfit  for  decent  human 
habitation,  dilapidation,  and  crime  flourish,  and  only 
complete  demolition  remains  as  the  solution  of  the 
structural — though  not  of  the  social  and  economic — 
problem. 

NEIGHBORHOOD  DECLINE  THROUGH  INDUS- 
TRIAL DECENTRALIZATION 

While  it  is  impossible  at  any  given  time  to  measure 
the  exact  damage,  to  older  urban  residential  communi- 
ties like  Waverly,  which  is  resulting  from  the  growth 
of  rural  industrial-residential  centers,  the  possible  long 

NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


term  consequence  of  the  continued  development  of 
these  areas  is  a  subject  which  warrants  careful  collateral 
consideration  in  any  study  of  the  cause,  effect  and 
treatment  of  undesirable  neighborhood  infiltration 
and  decay. 

The  term  "decentralization  of  industry"  connotes 
the  movement  of  manufacturing  operations  away  from 
areas  of  high  land  cost,  high  taxes,  and  congested 
employee  living  conditions,  into  rural  districts  where 
land  costs  and  taxes  are  low,  housing  is  improved,  and 
unit  living  areas  are  comparatively  spacious.  A  trend 
toward  industrial  decentralization  has  been  gathering 
considerable  momentum  in  Baltimore  during  recent 
years,  and  if  it  makes  real  headway  when  industry 
enters  its  next  period  of  major  replanning  and  rebuild- 
ing, another  important  factor  will  be  added  to  the 
problem  of  urban  blight  infection  and  slum  develop- 
ment. 

Two  examples  of  decentralization  of  this  type  are 
afforded  by  a  model  village  project  in  Harford  County, 
Md.,  designed  by  a  large  industrial  corporation  to 
house  10,000  of  its  employees,  and  by  a  garden  city 
development,  in  Baltimore  County,  projected  by 
another  manufacturing  company,  also  to  provide  living 
quarters  for  its  10,000  workers.  Modern  in  all  respects, 
these  developments  suggest  a  picture  of  happy  families, 
living  in  a  healthful  environment,  at  a  comparatively 
low  rental  cost,  amid  playgrounds,  trees,  and  nearby 
open  country  spaces,  while  indoors  are  sunlight,  space, 
and  the  latest  type  of  bathroom  and  electrical  kitchen 
equipment. 

From  both  a  social  and  an  investment  standpoint, 
these  projects  appear  to  be  sound,  but  their  portent  to  the 
home  owners  and  taxpayers  of  the  city  of  Baltimore — 
and  of  the  Waverly  area — is  also  a  consideration  of 
definite  importance. 

That  city  is  the  labor  center  from  which  these  com- 
panies will  largely  obtain  their  employees.  Thus,  some 
20,000  families,  most  of  whom  now  occupy  Baltimore 
dwellings  and  patronize  Baltimore  merchants,  utilities, 
and  theaters,  will  be  drawn  into  adjacent  and  largely 
autonomous  areas.  These  withdrawals  will  throw  some 
thousands  of  urban  dwelling  units  on  the  market. 
Since  the  population  of  the  city  is  now  nearly  station- 

53 


ary,  the  re-rental  of  those  units  which  are  situated  in  the 
more  desirable  districts  will  be  at  least  slow.  It  is 
from  the  older  and  more  modest  residential  sections, 
however,  that  the  labor  and  clerical  supply  for  these 
two  industries  will  largely  come  and,  since  many  of 
these  neighborhoods  are  already  actually  losing  popula- 
tion, the  probability  of  the  total  absorption  of  the 
dwellings  thus  vacated  is  rather  remote. 

An  abnormal  vacancy  ratio  is  the  certain  forerunner 
of  that  economic  decline  which  already  rests  heavily 
upon  many  sections  within  the  old  city  limits.  Shrink- 
ing property  values  mean  a  shriveling  tax  base,  without 
a  comparable  reduction  hi  the  cost  of  city  government. 
Streets,  water  supply,  sewers,  and  other  municipal  ser- 
vices must  be  maintained,  police  and  fire  protection 
provided,  the  interest  on  the  city's  debt  for  paving, 
water,  sewers,  etc.,  paid,  and  the  debt  itself  liquidated. 
Should  any  important  decentralization  movement  de- 
velop in  the  future,  those  neighborhoods  which  are  un- 
able to  carry  their  fair  share  of  the  cost  of  municipal 
services  will  tend  to  grow  larger;  as  they  develop,  the 
tax  burden  will  be  concentrated  on  increasingly  re- 
stricted areas,  and  the  exodus  of  competent  taxpayers 
from  the  city  will  be  accelerated. 

Commendable  as  decentralization  may  be  from  a 
social  standpoint  and  sound  as  may  be  its  industrial- 


economic  aspects,  its  cumulative  impact  on  older  urban 
residential  areas  like  Waverly  would  be  highly  unfortu- 
nate, should  the  movement  hereafter  acquire  real  mo- 
mentum, without  compensating  developments. 

CONSERVATION  THROUGH  COOPERATION 

That  ultimate  social,  economic,  and  structural  decay, 
requiring  a  major  surgical  operation  in  the  form  of  com- 
plete demolition,  need  not  necessarily  be  the  last  chapter 
in  the  history  of  every  urban  residential  community — 
and  that,  on  the  contrary,  a  coordinated  and  sustained 
Neighborhood  Conservation  Program  will  usually  pro- 
vide a  practical  preventive  remedy  for  community  corro- 
sion— is  so  comparatively  novel  a  tenet  that  little  com- 
petent information  and  less  literature  on  the  subject 
existed  prior  to  the  inauguration  of  the  project  with 
which  this  report  is  concerned. 

To  say  that  if  any  given  group  of  initially  sound  homes 
is  not  kept  repaired  it  will  eventually  become  unfit  for 
human  habitation  is  to  state  a  platitude.  It  is  like- 
wise obvious  that,  if  one  dwelling  in  this  group  had  been 
restored  to  a  sound  condition  before  all  reached  slum 
status,  complete  community  disintegration  would  in 
some  measure  have  been  retarded.  And  it  follows  that 
neighborhood  blight  can  be  halted  and  probably  re- 


INFLUENCE  OF  DEPRECIATED  AREAS 


KEY 

Depreciation  due  to  age,  lack  of  maintenance, 
and  unrestricted  land  use. 


Potential  blight  clue  to  age  and  adjacent  depres- 
sion. 


Southern  section  of  Waverly 


Drawing  No.  24 


54 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY 


versed  if,  before  community  decline  advances  too  far, 
all  of  the  homes  in  the  group  are  made  suitable  for  nor- 
mal use  and  are  there  maintained. 

The  potential  structural  life  of  the  average  small 
home  is  usually  far  beyond  that  which  has  heretofore 
been  ascribed  to  it.  With  proper  maintenance,  that 
life  can  be  extended  almost  indefinitely.  If,  at  com- 
paratively long  intervals — and  at  relatively  slight  ex- 
pense— equipment  is  also  modernized,  the  unimpaired 
economic  and  social  life  of  the  neighborhood  can  simi- 
larly be  prolonged.  To  halt  the  functional  obsoles- 
cence and  physical  decay  of  the  individual  units  which 
constitute  a  residential  community,  before  corrosion 
and  undesirable  infiltration  have  too  far  advanced,  is 
therefore  to  indefinitely  delay  the  eventual  disappear- 
ance of  that  community  as  an  urban  asset. 

Once  blight  and  undesirable  infiltration  are  under 
way,  they  are  increasingly  difficult  to  control  through 
the  uncorrelated  efforts  of  individual  property  owners. 
Only  coordinated  action,  pursuant  to  a  carefully  pre- 
pared and  technically  sound  plan,  either  by  a  consider- 
able group  of  owners  acting  jointly  or  by  a  single  owner 
or  agent  in  control  of  an  extended  group  of  housing 
units,  will  assure  the  restoration  of  those  former  stand- 
ards of  maintenance  which  are  necessary  if  decline  in 
rental  and  sales  values  and  the  infiltration  of  a  pro- 
gressively undesirable  type  of  occupant  is  to  be  halted. 

Drawing  No.  24  illustrates  the  influence  of  a  depre- 
ciated neighborhood  on  adjacent  areas. 

INSTITUTIONAL  RESPONSIBILITY 

Institutional  lenders  on  real  estate  security,  who 
should  be  particularly  alert  to  halt  declining  real  prop- 
erty values,  too  often  appear  as  the  owners  of  depre- 
ciated or  substandard  structures  which  threaten  to 
infect  adjacent  home  neighborhoods.  Reluctance  to 
restore  these  properties  to  the  community  standard  is 
usually  due  to  the  fact  that  their  new  owners  have 
already  taken  considerable  losses  on  foreclosed  mort- 
gages and  hesitate  to  invest  more  money  in  protecting 
them.  In  these  cases,  careful  consideration  should  be 
given  to  the  further  loss  which  will  result  from  contin- 
ued neglect  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  the  worth-while 
returns  which  additional  protective  investment  might 
yield  on  the  other,  and — of  at  least  equal  importance — 
to  the  obligation  which  these  lenders  owe  to  the  affected 
communities. 

If  an  institution  which  owns  several  properties  in  a 
district,  allows  even  one  of  them  to  deteriorate  struc- 
turally, it  risks  far  more  than  the  cost  of  a  single  recon- 
ditioning job.  To  allow  a  number  of  these  dwellings 
to  remain  in  poor  condition — or  to  depreciate  further — 
is  virtually  to  abandon  the  total  original  investment. 
Indiscriminate  outlays  for  reconditioning,  beyond  the 
standard  of  the  immediate  neighborhood,  cannot  be 


wholly  recaptured  and,  of  course,  are  not  advocated. 
But  certainly  no  owner — either  institutional  or  pri- 
vate— is  warranted  in  going  to  the  other  extreme,  by 
permitting  the  gradual  wastage  of  whatever  investment 
value  the  structure  may  still  retain.  In  part,  rental 
and  sales  levels  depend  on  the  quality  of  the  property 
which  can  be  offered  to  the  prospective  tenant  or  pur- 
chaser. Rarely,  if  ever,  will  the  resulting  increase  in 
rent  or  selling  price  fail  to  justify  the  cost  of  reasonable 
repairs  to  a  depreciated  home  in  a  sound  neighborhood. 
Meriting  consideration,  also,  is  the  matter  of  public 
responsibility  and  goodwill — always  important  to  insti- 
tutions which  are  engaged  in  home  financing,  either  as 
a  primary  or  a  secondary  function.  Every  dwelling 
which  is  permitted  to  decline  structurally  menaces  the 
real  estate  which  surrounds  it,  and  institutions  which  fail 
to  meet  their  obvious  civic  obligations,  by  allowing  the 
properties  they  have  acquired  to  become  neighborhood 
eyesores  and  to  threaten  the  stability  of  adjacent  home 
investment,  cannot  hope  to  maintain  that  good  will 
which  is  of  such  direct  value  to  them. 

IDEAL  TEST  CONDITIONS 

In  no  section  of  Baltimore  is  there  an  area  better  suited 
than  Waverly  to  test  the  essential  soundness  of  a  con- 
servation program  such  as  that  which  is  described  in 
this  report.  A  community  of  single-family  homes, 
predominantly  owner  occupied,  by  no  means  so  far 
deteriorated  that  extraordinary  effort  will  be  necessary 
to  halt  its  downward  trend,  Waverly  has  yet  declined 
sufficiently  to  make  definite  criteria  of  group  decay 
clearly  discernible.  Somewhat  depressed  within  and 
definitely  menaced  from  without — but  in  no  way  a 
generally  blighted  area — its  location,  prevailing  land 
use,  structural  character  and  general  condition  make 
its  preservation  highly  desirable  and  its  choice,  as  the 
setting  for  an  experimental  study  in  scientific  neighbor- 
hood conservation,  almost  ideal. 

DOMINANT  FACTORS 

The  great  majority  of  the  1,610  residential  structures 
in  Waverly  arc  well  located,  well  maintained  and  pro- 
vide desirable  homes.  Considerable  pride  of  ownership 
is  apparent,  social  and  cultural  activities  arc  established 
and,  for  the  present  at  least,  desirable  neighbors  are 
generally  assured. 

Tax  delinquency,  both  in  terms  of  structural  units 
and  in  terms  of  the  total  levy,  is  less  in  Waverly  than 
in  residential  Baltimore  as  a  whole.  Mortgage  ratios, 
possibly  due  to  the  prevalence  of  the  ground  lease 
system,  are  highly  favorable.  Low  also,  for  a  neigh- 
borhood of  its  type,  are  the  Area's  ratio  of  tenant-occu- 
pied to  owner-occupied  homes  and  its  percentage  of 
vacant  dwellings.  Relatively  infrequent  sales  and  long 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSER  VA  TION 


55 


Table  No.  24 
DOMINANT  FACTORS  IN   WAVERLY 


Item 


Favorable 


Unfavorable 


SOCIAL 


Race  .. 
Health 


Overcrowding 

Evidence  at  owner- 
ship pride. 


All  white 

Slightly    above    Baltimore 
average. 

None -- 

Generally  present 


Absent  in  areas  needinc 
rehabilitation. 


ECONOMIC 


Income -      No    destitution— weekly     4  out  of  7,000  receiving 

average  $30  to  $50.  general    public    assist- 

ance. 

Mortgages- .-    Low    ratio — mortgaged    to 

unmortgaged. 

Foreclosures Below  national  average 

H.  O.  L.  C.  mortgage     --- Above  national  average. 

delinquence. 

Tax  delinquence.--       Better  than  Baltimore  aver- 
age. 

NEIGHBORHOOD 

1'opulation  density   .    No  overcrowding 

Areas  of  deterioration  Several  badly  deterio- 
rated spots  endanger 
whole  Area. 

Street  pattern.  - Not  good. 

Street  condition Fair  average Occasional  repairs  and 

new  pavements  needed 

Alley  condition - Unsatisfactory. 

Traffic  circulation ....  Not  good. 

Utilities..- Ample  provision 

Educational  facilities   do 

Recreational  arens  - Inadequate  provision. 

Transportation Ample  provision 

Contiguous  neigh-  High-class  residential  on  A  developed  slum  virtu- 
borhoods.  east,  north,  west.  ally  touches  southern 

border. 

STRUCTURAL 

Type  98.84  percent  residential 

Placement --    Satisfactory    in    large    new  Numerous    examples    of 

areas.  bad  spacing  and  line. 

Demolition One  recommended 

Physical  condition   -      1.510  need  no  or  minor  re-  100  need  major  recondi- 

pairs;  basic  condition  good.  I  tioning. 

Functional  condition     Mixed — 92V^    percent    ade-  Mixed — 7H  percent  need 

quate  for  their  type  and  mechanical  and  similar 

kind.  modernization. 

Conformance .  - Scattered  nonconfonr.ing 

structures. 

Construction 8S    percent    brick,    largely  15  percent  frame,  largely 

modern.  old. 

Age 55  percent  under  25  years    -  45  percent  over  25  years. 

OCCUPANCY 

Type .  - Owner  80  percent,  tenant  20 

percent. 

For  rent-  - 'LOW  ratio  for  each... 

For  sale  

Rent  scale Slightly  above  comparative 

areas  in  Baltimore. 
Turn-over-- Average  around  once  in  20 

years. 

Vacancies  - Low  ratio--!. 2  percent- 

Overhang  of  unsold     Low  ratio  to  total  number  of 
houses.  structures. 


con- 


continued  owner  and  tenant  occupancy  indicate  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  satisfaction  with  general  neighbor- 
hood surroundings. 

Health  conditions  appear  satisfactory  and  the  survey 
developed  no  evidence  of  overcrowding  or  harmful 
doubling-up.  Adequate  primary,  secondary  and  col- 
legiate educational  facilities  are  provided  within  or  near 
the  Area.  The  usual  essential  utilities  and  public  pro- 
tection are  available  to  its  residents,  transportation  is 
excellent  and  amusement  and  shopping  centers  are 
easily  accessible. 

Playground  provision  is  inadequate — although  this 
deficiency  is,  in  a  measure,  corrected  for  older  children 
and  adults  by  large,  not  too  distant,  open  spaces  to  the 
east.  Street  pavement  is  in  generally  good  condition, 
but  the  general  street  pattern  is  extremely  bad,  street 
widths  are  unreasonably  restricted  and  traffic  circu- 
lation is  unduly  impeded. 

The  summary  of  favorable  and  unfavorable  com- 
munity factors,  which  appears  as  table  No.  24,  quite 
clearly  establishes  Waverly's  social,  economic,  and 
structural  position. 


COMPARISON  WITH  REAL  PROPERTY  INVEN- 
TORY SURVEY  FINDINGS 


The  comparison,  shown  in  table  No.  25,  of  some  of 
the  important  factors  present  in  Waverly,  with  similar 
national  data  disclosed  by  the  Works  Progress  Admin- 
istration's "Real  Property  Inventory"  survey  covering 
7,651,896  of  the  17,372,524  urban  dwellings  in  the 
United  States,  is  significant.6 

Running  water  is  everywhere  available  to  Waverly 
residents.  All  homes  in  the  Area  are  equipped  with 
flush-type  sanitary  facilities,  in  comparison  with  68 
percent  so  equipped  in  the  southeast  and  85  percent 
nationally.  All  Waverly  residences  have  stationary 
bathtub  installations — some,  of  course,  obsolete — as 
ngainst  60  percent  similarly  equipped  in  the  south- 
eastern portion  of  the  United  States  and  a  general 
national  average  of  80  percent.  Central  heating  i: 
installed  in  98  percent  of  the  homes  in  Waverly,  as 
compared  with  a  national  urban  average  of  60  percent. 

Less  than  6  percent  of  Waverly's  residential  struc- 
tures need  major  repair,  while  16  percent  is  the  average 
for  the  Nation.  Over  40  percent  of  the  tenants  in 
the  Area  have  occupied  the  same  dwellings  for  varying 
periods  exceeding  5  years,  as  compared  with  an  18- 
percent  national  record  for  similar  occupancy.  Only 
13  percent  of  Waverly's  tenant  population,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  lived  in  its  present  quarters  for  less 
than  1  year,  contrasted  with  a  national  figure  of  5 
percent  for  occupancy  of  1  year  or  less.  Room  averages 

1  The  Real  Property  Inventory  survey  covers  the  triennial  period  ending  with  1936 
but  this  3-year  lag  does  not  invalidate  the  comparisons  in  table  No.  25  because  of  the 
comparatively  static  nature  of  the  items  included  In  it. 


56 


— A  STUDY  IN 


in  the  Waverly  district  exceed  one  for  each  occupant; 
26  percent  of  the  dwellings  in  the  southeast  and  17 
percent  throughout  the  Nation  provide  less  than  one 
room  per  person.  There  is  virtually  no  record  of 
doubling  up  in  Waverly;  in  the  southeast  9  percent — 
and  nationally  5  percent — of  the  residential  units  in 
urban  centers  house  more  than  one  family.  Less  than 
40  percent  of  the  homes  in  the  Area  are  mortgaged,  as 
against  more  than  55  percent  of  the  urban,  single- 
family,  owner-occupied  dwellings  throughout  the 
country  so  encumbered. 


Table  No.  25 

COMPARISON  WITH  REAL  PROPERTY 
INVENTORY  AVERAGES 
(Outside  Xew  York  City) 

Item 

Percentage 

National 
average 

South- 
eastern 
United 
States 

Waverly 

Lack  running-water  con- 
nections  __ 

5 
4 
19 
15 

20 
40 
39 
24 
30 
23 
23 
39 

45 
16 
7 
12 
81 
57 
25 
18 

17 
5 
56 

15 
25 
50 
32 

40 
76 
18 
14 
37 
25 
24 
31 

46 
23 
10 
15 
75 
62 
22 
16 

26 
9 
49 

0 
0 
0 
0 

0 
2 
75 
26 
20 
52 
2 
42 

52 
6 
3 
8 
88 
13 
46 
41 

0 
0 
39 

Lack      electric  -  lighting 
connections 

Lack  gas-cooking   con- 
nections _ 

Lack  private  flush  toi- 
lets 

Lack  private  baths  and 
showers    .  . 

Lack  central  heating  
Masonry  construction  
Constructed  before  1894, 
Constructed  1  895-1  91  4.  _ 
Constructed  1915-24  
Constructed  1925-35.. 
Condition  —  good 

Condition  —  need  some 
repairs                _       

Condition  —  need    major 
repairs 

Occupancy  —  owner    less 
than  2  years 

Occupancy  —  owner    2-5 
years 

Occupancy  —  owner  over 
5  years 

Occupancy  —  tenant  less 
than  year 

Occupancy  —  tenant  2-5 
vears 

Occupancy  —  tenant  over 
5  years 

More  than  1  person  per 
room. 

Extra  families  in  unit  
Mortgaged 

INFECTION 

The  useful  life  of  the  community  is  definitely  threat- 
ened, however,  by  (1)  the  adverse  influence  of  a  few 
scattered  blocks,  in  which  there  are  houses  that  have 
been  permitted  to  degenerate  below  the  level  of  normal 
usefulness  and  now  constitute  definite  sources  of  blight 
contagion;  by  (2)  the  presence  of  26  scattered  converted 
residential  structures,  now  being  used  also  for  noncon- 
forming  commercial  purposes,  which  likewise  act  as 
infection  foci;  and  by  (3)  the  pressure  of  the  large  sub- 
standard area  which  extends  from  the  northern  border 
of  the  city's  downtown  business  district  almost  to  the 
southern  boundary  of  Waverly. 

DOWNWARD  TREND  OBSCURED 

While  the  Area  contains  many  old  homes — half  of  its 
structures  exceed  25  years  and  some  exceed  50  years  in 
age — in  various  states  of  repair,  it  also  includes  block 
after  block  of  fine,  modern  residences,  largely  of  the 
brick  row  type,  erected  since  the  war,  well  built,  well 
maintained,  and,  of  their  kind,  excellent  in  architec- 
tural and  functional  design.  By  lowering  the  average 
structural  age  within  the  Area  and  by  raising  its  average 
rating  for  structural  condition,  these  more  modern 
homes  have  obscured  Waverly's  gradual  but  definitely 
downward  tendency  and  have  given  its  residents  a  sense 
of  security  which  actual  and  potential  community  trends 
do  not  warrant.  Furthermore,  while  these  compara- 
tively new  brick  houses  have  served  to  increase  average 
values  in  their  several  neighborhoods,  their  own  average 
has  been  definitely  depressed  by  the  menace  of  contigu- 
ous depreciated  frame  construction. 

The  adverse  influence  of  these  spots  of  incipient  but 
definite  infection  is  quite  strikingly  reflected  in  the 
downward  assessment  trend  of  southern  Waverly 
(table  No.  29,  page  72) ,  contrary  to  the  upward  move- 
ment of  commercial  property  assessment  within  the  same 
area  and  of  equivalent  residential  assessment  elsewhere 
in  Baltimore.  In  this  respect,  the  comparatively  new 
row-house  groups  have  suffered  even  more  severely 
than  have  the  old  detached  structures,  thus  emphasiz- 
ing the  fact  that  the  owners  of  both  types  are  definitely 
concerned  with  the  problem  of  community  depreciation 
and  renovation. 

CROSS-CURRENTS 

As  the  field  survey  and  subsequent  study  of  the  Area 
advanced,  indices  of  community  vigor  and  evidences  of 
community  decline  appeared  from  time  to  time — and 
almost  as  quickly  disappeared.  Patterns  frequently 
began  to  take  form  only  at  once  to  fade  out  again.  By 
the  time  the  last  items  were  added  to  the  over-all  chart, 
it  had  become  apparent  that  the  trends  and  relation- 


NEIGHRORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


57 


ships  within  the  Area  are  frequently  obscure  and  are 
sometimes  contradictory. 

These  confused  cross-currents  permitted  but  one 
conclusion.  The  tide  of  neighborhood  disintegration 
in  Waverly  has  only  just  begun  to  set — but,  unless 
prompt  measures  are  taken  to  halt  its  present  compara- 
tively gentle  movement,  it  will  presently  gather  a 
momentum  that  will  be  increasingly  difficult,  and  finally 
impossible,  to  control. 

The  prompt  reconditioning  of  every  home  in  need  of 
minor  repair,  the  immediate  restoration  of  every  deteri- 
orated house  to  a  definite  Area  standard  and  the  subse- 
quent maintenance  of  all  structures  at  that  standard, 
is  the  minimum  requirement  for  successful  resistance 
to  the  slow  and  relatively  obscure  disease  that  LOW 
threatens  the  future  social  and  economic  integrity  of 
Waverly. 

SURVEY  INFLUENCE 

Preventive  measures  can  be  most  effectively  applied, 
of  course,  before  neighborhood  corrosion  first  begins 
actually  to  show  itself,  Thus  seemingly  early  in  its 
life  cycle,  however,  the  average  owner  is  unwilling  to 
believe  that  his  home  may  already  be  involved  in  an 
obscure  process  of  community  decline.  At  the  time, 
therefore,  when  blight  might  most  easily,  positively  and 
inexpensively  be  checked  in  the  individual  structure  and 
in  the  neighborhood  as  a  whole,  it  is  relatively  difficult 
to  enlist  his  cooperation  in  a  program  for  the  control  of 
what  appears  to  him  to  be,  at  worst,  only  a  potential 
and  perhaps  phantom  danger. 

During  the  early  progress  of  the  survey,  the  average 
Waverly  resident,  in  turn,  was  resistant  to  what  he 
interpreted  as  governmental  interference  in  matters  of 
personal  and  local  concern;  was  reluctant  to  recognize 
the  threat,  to  him  personally,  of  progressive  neighbor- 
hood disintegration;  was  'prone  to  overemphasize 
governmental  liability,  and  inclined  to  underrate  his 
own  responsibility,  for  such  organized  protection  as  his 
home  might  need;  and,  finally,  was  slow  to  accept  the 
thesis  that  the  coordinated  effort  of  all  home  owners 
in  the  Area  is  the  prime  essential  to  any  successful  effort 
to  resist  community  disintegration.  Gradually,  how- 
ever, as  the  survey  progressed  and  planning  methods 
and  objectives  became  clearer,  he  awakened  to  the  fact 
that  he  has  an  existing  personal  problem  in  neighbor- 
hood stabilization  and  that  the  success  with  which  that 
problem  is  finally  met  will  depend  directly  on  the 
measure  of  individual  cooperation  which  he  and  his 
neighbors  give  to  its  solution. 

The  Waverly  field  survey  covered  the  5-month  period 
between  March  15  and  August  15,  1939.  A  campaign 
of  education,  which  included  neighborhood  meetings, 
newspaper  publicity,  etc.,  explaining  the  program  and 
its  objectives,  immediately  followed.  This  preliminary 
organization  work  culminated  in  the  incorporation  of 
the  Waverly  Conservation  League  on  June  13,  1940. 


: 


The,  volume  of  repair,  reconditioning,  remodeling, 
and  landscaping  which  has  been  completed  through- 
out the  Area  during  the  past  few  months — even  prior 
to  the  complete  mobilization  of  community  effort- 
greatly  exceeds  that  for  any  like  period  in  recent  years. 
Two  "before-and-after"  examples  of  such  post-survej 
rehabilitation  appear  in  drawing  No.  25. 

The  old  junk  yard — the  removal  of  which  wa 
ineffectively  ordered  by  the  city  some  years  ago — and 
the  unsightly  frame  tabernacle,  which  long  defaced 
the  northwest  corner  of  Venable  Avenue  and  Old 
York  Road,  have  recently  been  removed  and  the  prop- 
erty landscaped  and  paved  for  parking  lot  purposes. 
This  treatment  was  recommended  in  the  Waverly 
Master  Plan  and  is  shown  on  drawing  No.  14  as  step 
No.  1  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  that  property. 

Row-house  construction  has  been  undertaken  on  at 
least  two  tracts  adjacent  to  old  residential  groups  which 
are  so  depreciated  that,  unrehabilitated,  these  groups 
will  seriously  injure  the  value  and  marketability  of 
the  newly  built  row  houses. 

The   first  of   the   series   of   12   interior   play    ares 
recommended  in  the  Master  Plan— that  depicted 
drawing  No.  20,  page  61 — has  already  been  approvec 
by  the  Baltimore  Park  Commission. 

The  number  of  Waverly  loans  repaid  in  full  to  the 
Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation  between  June  1,  1939 
and  June  1,  1940  nearly  doubled,  while  the  ratio  of 
borrowers  in  default  dropped  by  more  than  half.  During 
that  year  the  number  of  "for  sale"  signs  on  homes  in 
the  Area  decreased  by  almost  50  percent  and  of  "for 
rent"  signs  by  over  90  percent.  By  June  1,  1939,  the 
Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation  had  sold,  all  told,  24 
percent  of  the  Waverly  properties  it  had  acquired  by 
foreclosure  during  the  previous  3-year  period;  in  the 
succeeding  twelve  months,  it  disposed  of  57  percent  of 
the  maximum  number  of  Waverly  properties  on  its 
books  during  that  year.  This  sales  record  becomes 
important,  as  an  indication  of  the  Conservation  Pro- 
gram's influence  and  inspiration,  when  the  Corpora- 
tion's percentages  of  property  sales  in  Waverly,  in 
Maryland,  and  in  Region  2A,  at  the  beginning  and  at 
the  end  of  that  period,  are  compared: 


Area 


Waverly 

State  of  Maryland 

Region    2A    (Maryland,    Delaware,    Pennsyl- 
vania, Virginia  and  District  of  Columbia).- 


Sales  Sales 

3  years  1  year 

prior  to  ending 

June  1,  June  1, 

1939  1940 

(Percent)  (Percent) 

24  57 

37  34 


39 


45 


In  considerable  measure  at  least,  the  unusual  repair 
and  construction  activity  and  noteworthy  repayment 
and  sales  record,  which  are  in  part  described  above, 
may  be  attributed  to  a  quickened  interest  in  mainte- 
nance and  embellishment  directly  aroused  by  the  field 
survey,  and  to  a  growing  confidence  that  the  Waverly 


58 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


EXAMPLES  OF  1940  REHABILITATION 


AFTER 


AFTER 


Drawing  No.  25 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


59 


Conservation  Program  will  exert  a  permanently  stabiliz- 
ing influence  on  values  and  conditions  in  the  district. 

ZONING  ADJUSTMENT 

The  underlying  pvirpose  of  urban  zoning  is  to  classify 
and  segregate  residential,  commercial,  and  industrial 
areas;  control  height,  structural  density,  placement, 
type,  and  relative  land  coverage;  provide  greater  pro- 
tection against  smoke,  noise,  dust,  and  other  city 
annoyances;  assure  adequate  sunlight,  air,  open  spaces, 
and  recreational  areas;  promote  better  regulation  of 
traffic  and  transportation;  and,  in  general,  assure  a 
more  orderly  urban  growth.  It  is  now  quite  generally 
agreed  that  "overzoning"  for  multiple  family  use  has 
been  a  fault  common  to  the  usual  use-height  ordinance, 
whether  designed  for  urban  or  suburban  areas. 

Less  generally,  however,  is  it  recognized  that  serious 
overzoning  for  business  purposes  has  often  taken  place 
within  those  districts  which  warrant  the  least  intensive 
land  use  and  which  should,  therefore,  be  reserved  for 
one-family  residential  purposes  only.  The  invasion 
of  a  residential  area  by  business  enterprise,  immediately 
and  directly  affects  the  character  of  the  neighborhood 
and  the  stability  of  home  investment  in  it.  When 
industrial  and  commercial  operations,  filling  stations, 
garages,  billboards,  etc.,  first  begin  to  move  in,  home 
owners,  financially  able  to  do  so,  begin  to  move  out. 
Consequent  decay,  economic  loss,  and  some  degree  of 
social  impairment  invariably  precede,  by  a  long  period 
of  time,  any  compensating  increase  in  land  values,  due 
to  demand  for  business  use  away  from  the  inner  core 
of  the  city.  Eventual  economic  gains  are  usually  con- 
fined to  a  comparatively  limited  area  and  these  gains 
are  rarely  equivalent  to  the  total  loss  in  values  through- 
out the  much  larger  affected  territory. 

Home  owners  in  older  residential  districts,  not  under- 
standing that  the  mere  legal  process  of  zoning  for 
business  use  does  not  necessarily  make  their  property 
attractive  or  marketable  for  that  purpose — and  moved, 
also,  by  an  obscure  pride  in  the  ownership  of  commer- 
cial property — have  too  often  successfully  pressed  for 
the  inclusion  of  their  homes  within  districts  zoned  for 
business.  As  the  direct  result  of  this  mistaken  policy, 
considerable  areas  in  every  American  city  have  been 
rendered  unfit  for  normal  residential  use,  with  no  com- 
pensating commercial  demand ;  their  physical  trend  has 
turned  sharply  downward;  and  their  economic  values 
have  been  permanently  depressed. 

For  example,  Chicago's  zoning  law,  enacted  nearly  20 
years  ago  in  the  early  stages  of  a  great  real-estate  boom, 
was  designed  to  protect  existing  values.  Actually,  it 
has  operated  to  create  a  harmful  illusion  of  values  that 
never  existed.  Miles  of  frontage  that  could  never,  by 
the  wildest  imagining,  be  used  for  anything  but  small 
homes  were  zoned  for  multi-story  apartment  and  com- 


mercial buildings.  In  their  zeal  to  provide  sufficient 
sites  for  million-dollar  movie  palaces,  department 
stores  and  shops,  real-estate  owners  and  operators 
deliberately  sabotaged  the  one  element  that  would 
make  such  development  possible — the  small  homes 
which  would  house  the  customers  who  might  support 
these  theaters,  stores,  and  shops.  Tt  has  been  stated 
that  out  of  Chicago's  211  square  miles  of  territory, 
there  are  only  6.79  square  miles  in  which  a  home  can 
be  built  with  assurance  that  the  zoning  laws  will  protect 
it  from  objectionable  industrial,  commercial  or  apart- 
ment-house neighbors;  that,  if  all  of  the  property 
zoned  for  multi-story  elevator  apartments  in  that  city 
were  improved  with  such  structures,  they  could  house 
45,000,000  persons;  and  that,  if  all  the  street  frontage 
on  which  business  is  permitted,  were  improved  with 
store  buildings,  there  would  be  one  shop  for  each  two 
families. 

OVERZONING  IN  WAVERLY 

It  is  highly  desirable  that  overzoning,  for  both 
multiple  residential  and  business  purposes,  more 
closely  follow  demand  rather  than  anticipate  it,  and 
that,  as  promptly  as  possible,  past  evils  of  overzoning 
be  repaired,  both  in  the  interest  of  orderly  city  growth 
and  the  preservation  of  real-estate  values. 

The  Waverly  field  survey  developed  definite  evidence 
of  overzoning  on  Greenmount  Avenue  between  Thirty- 
fifth  and  Forty-second  Streets;  on  Old  York  Road  be- 
tween Thirty-fourth  and  Thirty -fifth  Streets;  and  on 
Thirty-third  Street  between  Old  York  Road  and 
Ellcrslie  Avenue.  The  adjustment  of  the  use-height 
classification  of  these  areas  and  the  gradual  transfer  to 
a  more  suitable  site  of  the  small,  improperly  located 
commercial  group  now  on  Old  York  Road,  are  recom- 
mended, with  detailed  specifications,  in  the  Master 
Plan. 

Elimination  of  two  nonconforming  manufacturing 
plants  and  of  26  nonconforming,  converted  dwellings, 
now  used  for  both  residential  and  commercial  pur- 
poses, must  await  the  reconversion  or  destruction  of 
these  structures,  since  nonconforming  use  which  existed 
when  the  zoning  ordinance  was  adopted  was  not  abated 
by  that  legislation. 

STREET  PATTERN  ADJUSTMENT 

City  designing  seeks  both  to  fix  the  broad  pattern 
of  the  urban  framework  and  to  coordinate  the  con- 
stituent neighborhoods  within  that  pattern.  Con- 
versely, the  neighborhood  plan  must  synchronize  with 
the  city's  design.  Formal  city  planning  is  by  no  means 
a  novel  consideration  in  America  but,  until  compara- 
tively recently,  it  has  been  approached  largely  as  a 
problem  in  zoning  and  street  pattern  design.  Today, 


60 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


PROPOSED  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AN  INTERIOR  PLAY  AREA 
FOR  BLOCK  NO.  3903-A 

Approved    by    tne  Board    of   Park    Commissioners 


EAST      39IU     STREET 


EAST      38IH.     STREET 


ESTIMATE 

STREET  AREAS       CURB   PLANTING....)     125.00 

FOUNDATION    "     ........  525.00 

SLOPE  «     ........  56.25 

PLAY   AREA  GRADING...  ...3OO.OO 

PLANTING  .............  .  280.00 

TOTAI  __________  $  1,286.25 

ASSESSMENT    ON   EACH    PROPERTY  .....  36.75 


Drawing  No.  26 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


61 


however,  we  are  beginning  to  recognize  that  urban 
planning  involves  several  techniques  and,  in  more 
complex  problems,  are  calling  in  specialized  service  not 
only  in  street  planning,  building  height  restriction, 
land  use,  and  population  densities  but  also  in  structural 
and  landscape  architecture,  civil,  mechanical,  and 
electrical  engineering,  and  social  service. 

Unlike  the  modern  process  of  area  development,  in 
which  streets  are  first  located  and  subsequent  struc- 
tural improvements  are  made  to  conform  to  them,  the 
early  growth  of  Waverly  was  unplanned,  haphazard, 
and  wholly  without  the  restraint  of  municipal  control 
in  the  location  of  highways,  parkways,  sidewalks,  and 
building  lines.  As  fast  as — but  no  faster  than — houses 
were  constructed  during  that  period,  the  street  pattern 
extended  itself  as  a  natural  evolutionary  process.  As 
so  frequently  happens  in  old  and  slowly  maturing  com- 
munities, the  Area  therefore  assumed  an  irregular  and 
unscientific  street  pattern,  old  homes  were  intermingled 
with  newer  structures,  frame  construction  kept  com- 
pany with  brick,  and  maintenance  ranged  all  the  way 
from  excellent  to  poor. 

Gradually,  however,  new  street  lay-outs  began  to 
reflect  more  modern  community  standards.  Clearly  ap- 
parent is  a  progressive  improvement  in  neighborhood 
planning,  which  indicates  a  developing  consciousness 
of  the  necessity  for  the  alinemcnt  and  proper  place- 
ment of  the  structural  components  of  a  residential 
block  and  for  coordination  in  the  arrangement  of  streets, 
parkways,  and  alleys.  In  the  period  following  the 
World  War,  when  the  demand  for  additional  housing 
prompted  the  development  of  much  of  the  vacant  ter- 
ritory on  the  eastern  margin  of  the  Area,  reasonably 
orderly  street  patterns  were  adopted.  The  section  last 
platted,  that  along  Westerwald  and  Ellerslie  Avenues, 
exhibits  a  normal  street,  parkway  and  alley  design, 
uniform  building  lines,  and  orderly  structural  placement. 
Unfortunately,  however,  only  the  most  obvious  needs 
of  the  small  subdivisions  platted  during  the  past  two 
decades  were  considered,  even  at  that  comparatively 
late  date.  The  broader  problem  of  their  relationship 
to  adjoining  areas  was  ignored  and  the  opportunity  to 
connect  new  street  ends  with  old,  and  in  other  ways  to 
improve  the  over-all  Area  pattern,  was  not  availed  of. 
The  resulting  imperfections  constitute  a  definite  func- 
tional and  economic  handicap  to  both  the  newer  and 
;hc  older  sections  of  Waverly.  While  it  is  now  im- 
jossible  wholly  to  correct  these  imperfections,  detailed 
plans  for  numerous  feasible  adjustments,  which  will 
promote  freer  and  safer  traffic  circulation  and  better 
land  use,  were  developed  during  the  planning  stage  of 
the  project. 

THE  MASTER  PLAN 

The  equivalent  of  a  surgical  operation  is  not  required 
in  Waverly;  demolition  is  definitely  indicated  in  the 


62 


case  of  but  one  property;  general  renovation  is  neither 
necessary  nor  contemplated;  the  formula  for  the  suc- 
cessful treatment  of  the  Area's  gradually  developing 
malady  is  not  costly  nor  is  it  dramatic.  It  is  a  simple, 
preventive  remedy  which  has  aptly  been  called  "organ- 
ized neighborhood  housekeeping"  and  is  compounded 
largely  of  the  ingredients  "conservation,"  "street  ad- 
justment," and  "concerted  and  continued  community 
effort." 

This  treatment,  as  developed  in  the  Master  Plan, 
has  been  divided  into  two  parallel  but  not  necessarily 
integrated  parts: 

I'ttrt  A.  The  curly  physical  restoration — by  means 
of  minor  repair  and  major  reconditioning,  remodeling, 
modernizing,  embellishment  and  landscaping — of  all 
depreciated  housing  within  the  body  of  the  Area,  sub- 
stantially as  recommended  during  the  study  and  plan- 
ning phase  of  the  survey  and  as  briefly  described  in 
this  report,  supplemented  by  continued  maintenance 
thereafter,  at  the  level  established  for  the  neighborhood. 

Promptly,  energetically  and  generally  applied,  this 
phase  of  the  Master  Plan  will  restore  to  health  those 
infected  spots  which  now  menace  the  Area  as  a  whole; 
will  preserve  its  present  economic  and  social  values; 
will  automatically  provide  it  with  an  effective  defense 
against  future  objectionable  economic,  social,  and 
structural  encroachments  from  the  south;  will  retain 
it  as  an  important  city  and  State  tax  base;  will  safe- 
guard the  utility,  school  and  street  investments  which 
the  city  has  made  within  its  borders;  and  will  protect 
the  residential  neighborhoods  contiguous  to  it  on  the 
north,  east  and  west  from  subsequent  infection. 

Part  B. — The  adjustment  of  zoning  regulations  and 
street  patterns,  as  a  parallel  but  separate  program,  re- 
quiring confirmation  by  the  residents  of  the  Area  and 
concurrence  by  the  city,  and  therefore  development 
over  a  considerable  period  of  time.  This  part  of  the 
recommended  program  includes  amendments  to  use- 
height  restrictions  as  defined  in  the  present  zoning 
ordinance;  improvement  of  street  lighting;  increase  in 
playground  facilities;  the  gradual  elimination  of  non- 
conforming  structures;  street  widening  by  condemna- 
tion; progressive  street  widening,  which  starts  with  the 
establishment  of  new  building  lines  and  slowly  advances 
with  the  gradual  voluntary  demolition  of  old  and  the 
construction  of  new  buildings;  and  such  street  openings, 
closings,  paving  and  adjustments  as  are  included  in  a 
technical  recommendation,  with  alternate  solutions, 
which  has  been  submitted  by  the  project  planning  de- 
partment to  the  Baltimore  Commission  on  City  Plan- 
ning. A  digest  of  this  recommendation  appears  at  the 
end  of  this  report  as  Appendix  D. 

If  desired  by  the  residents  of  the  Area  or  made  nec- 
essary by  the  financial  position  of  the  city,  the  ultimate 
completion  of  the  second  phase  of  the  program  may  be 
considerably  postponed.  When  consummated,  it  will 
complement  and  confirm  the  benefits  which  earlier 
flowed  from  the  completion  of  Part  A  described  above. 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY 


IN 


Drawing  No.  27  shows  the  southern  portion  of  the 
Area,  as  replanned. 

COMMUNITY  ORGANIZATION 

Survey  and  Master  Plan  production  was  a  process 
wholly  distinct  from  the  program  which  must  now  be 
undertaken  by  some  form  of  neighborhood  organization 
designed  to  inspire  and  supervise  the  completion  of  the 
physical  rehabilitation  of  the  Area,  as  recommended  in 
that  Plan.  No  matter  what  may  be  the  technical  merits 
and  soundness  of  that  study,  its  ultimate  success  will 
depend  on  community  integration  and  ambition;  on 
the  clear  recognition,  by  the  mass  of  the  property  owners 
themselves,  of  the  importance  and  imminence  of  their 
individual  and  joint  problems;  on  their  willingness  and 
ability  to  mobilize  and  deploy  that  cooperative  and 
continued  effort  without  which  the  proposed  conserva- 
tion program  cannot  long  survive  as  an  effective 
neighborhood  force;  and  on  the  degree  of  sympathetic, 
intelligent,  and  continuous  local  leadership  which  is 


available  for  the  immediate  and  subsequent  work  of  the 
organization. 

If  these  elements  are  present  in  the  development  of 
the  project,  it  can  scarcely  fail  to  accomplish  its  pur- 
poses. If  they  are  absent,  it  can  hardly  hope  to  reach 
them. 

Recognizing  these  facts,  the  Home  Owners'  Loan 
Corporation  has  accepted,  as  its  final  obligation  to  the 
Waverly  conservation  project — other  than  its  partici- 
pation in  future  cooperative  activities,  as  one  property 
owner  among  many — active  temporary  leadership  in  the 
organization  of  a  neighborhood  conservation  league,  to 
which  the  plans  and  recommendations  for  each  property 
and  for  the  whole  Area,  as  developed  during  the  plan- 
ning phase  of  the  survey,  may  be  entrusted;  by  which, 
with  energetic  and  sympathetic  local  leadership  and 
unified  neighborhood  support,  the  translation  of  these 
plans  into  the  physical  improvement  and  stabilization 
of  Waverly  may  be  encouraged  and  carried  forward; 
and  under  which  the  neighborhood  standards  so 
established  may  long  be  maintained. 


J    L 


SOUTHERN  PORTION  OF  WAVERLY 
AS   REPLANNED 


N 

vt 

80 IftO 


Drowirq  No.  27 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


63 


MOBILIZED  NEIGHBORHOOD  EFFORT 

No  stronger  force  can  be  found  with  which  to  activate 
neighborhood  conservation  effort  than  a  united  public 
opinion,  expressing  community  approval  and  disap- 
proval through  the  agency  of  a  local  organi/.;;tion,  ded- 
icated to  the  general  protection  of  neighborhood  values, 
on  which  home  owners  can  rely  for  intelligent,  energetic 
and  unremitting  devotion  to  community  welfare  and 
betterment. 

The  indifferent  owner  of  an  obsolete  dwelling  who  is 
satisfied  with  his  home  and  its  surroundings;  the  dis- 
couraged and  resigned  owner  of  a  sound  structure,  who 
has  helplessly  watched  the  slow  advance  toward  his 
property  of  an  adjacent  depressed  area;  and  the  com- 
placent owner  who  feels  sure  that  depreciation  is  a 
geographically  static  condition  which  can  never  extend 
itself  into  his  particular  neighborhood,  will  all  be  found 
initially  reluctant  to  undertake  the  functions  allotted 
to  them  in  a  local  conservation  project. 

Financial  profit  can  rarely  be  offered  in  exchange  for 
cooperation,  because  neighborhood  stabilization  rarely 
produces  dramatic  increases  in  investment  values  and, 
where  some  measure  of  increase  does  result,  it  is  only  a 
byproduct  of  the  project,  wholly  secondary  to  its  real 
purposes.  If  general  adherence  is  to  be  gained,  each 
owner  must  be  made  aware — 

(1)  That  neighborhood  conditions,  both  structural 
and  social,  are  never   static;   they  either   constantly 
improve  or  constantly  deteriorate. 

(2)  That,  whether  actually  present  in  his  own  prop- 
erty, or  developing  in  an   area   adjacent   to  him,  or 
apparently  confined  to  more  remote  districts,  structural 
deterioration  and  postponed  reconditioning  anywhere 
in  his  general  neighborhood  are  an  immediate  or  pro- 
spective menace  to  the  spiritual  and  investment  values 
of  his  home  and,  as  such,  are  of  direct  personal  concern 
to  him. 

(3)  That  the  residents  within  the  affected  community 
can,  through  united  effort,  apply  a  simple,  effective  and 
permanent  remedy  to  the  danger  which  confronts  them. 

(4)  That  his  own  individual  interest  as  an  investor, 
his  pride  and  satisfaction  in  the  physical  well-being  of 
his  home  and  its  surroundings,  his  liability  to  his  family 
and  his  responsibility  to  his  neighbors,  should  all  enlist 
his  willing  participation  in  his  community  conservation 
program. 

WAVERLY  CONSERVATION  LEAGUE 

With  the  aid  of  organizing  personnel  delegated  by 
the  Home  Owners'  Loan  Corporation,  an  Advisory 
Committee  of  25  persons,  made  up  of  civic  minded 
residents  of  the  Waverly  district,  including  the  execu- 
tive heads  of  the  four  local  improvement  associations 
and  public  spirited  leaders  both  from  within  the  Area 
and  from  other  sections  of  the  city,  has  been  formed  for 

64 


the  purpose  of  directing  the  organization  of  the  Waverly 
Conservation  League  and  thereafter  cooperating  with  it 
in  applying  the  Master  Plan  to  the  problems  of  the  Area. 
As  constituted,  this  Advisory  Committee  can,  in  like 
manner,  function  as  an  inspirational  agency  and  clear- 
ing house  for  similar  projects,  should  Waverly's  exam- 
ple stimulate  their  development  elsewhere  in  the  city  of 
Baltimore. 

With  the  approval  of  the  Advisory  Committee,  a 
Waverly  Conservation  League  Operating  Committee 
has  been  established.  To  be  members  of  this  commit- 
tee a  District  Chairman  was  selected  from  each  of  the 
six  districts  in  the  Area;  three  additional  members,  all 
women,  were  appointed  to  represent  the  feminine  resi- 
dents of  Waverly, -'and  a  tenth  member,  elected  at  large 
by  the  other  nine  commit teemen,  will  act  as  League 
President  and  chief  executive.  Block  captains,  each 
representing  the  residents  of  a  single  block  in  his  dis- 
trict, will  support  each  chairman.  These  captains  will 
provide  a  distributed  and  intimate  contact  between  the 
Operating  Committee  and  all  individual  home  owners 
in  the  Area. 

Membership  in  the  Waverly  Conservation  League 
will  be  open  to  all  Waverly  residents  upon  the  payment 
of  a  nominal  annual  fee.  As  the  League's  central  execu- 
tive agency,  the  Operating  Committee  will  have  super- 
vision of  the  translation  of  the  Master  Plan  into  the 
actual  physical  improvement  and  stabilization  of  the 
Area.  The  custody  of  such  survey  and  planning  data, 
maps,  sketches,  and  other  matter  relating  to  that  Plan, 
as  are  essential  to  its  subsequent  activities,  will  therefore 
be  entrusted  to  it. 

The  procedure  for  the  incorporation  of  a  nonprofit 
organization  under  the  Maryland  statutes  is  simple, 
requiring  only  that  a  charter  or  certificate  of  incorpora- 
tion be  filed  with  the  State  tax  commission  in  the  Union 
Trust  Building,  Baltimore,  and  that  a  recording  fee  of 
$10  be  paid.  No  bonus,  franchise,  or  other  tax  is  im- 
posed at  the  time  of  filing;  the  corporation  will  not  be 
subject  to  subsequent  Federal  or  State  taxation;  and 
therefore  its  directors  will  not  be  individually  liable  for 
unpaid  taxes  in  the  event  of  dissolution,  as  are  the 
directors  of  an  ordinary  business  corporation. 

\    MUNICIPAL   CONSERVATION   DEPARTMENT 

The  decline  of  a  residential  neighborhood  and  its 
eventual  abandonment,  from  whatever  cause,  to  prop- 
erty owners  who  are  financially  unable  to  sustain  it, 
not  only  increases  municipal  expenditures  and  decreases 
tax  income  within  the  affected  area  but  also  compels 
the  duplication,  elsewhere,  of  costly  pavements,  util- 
ities, and  school  facilities. 

A  more  complete  understanding  of  the  direct  cost  of 
neighborhood  decay  and  a  clearer  conception  of  the 
economic  value  of  neighborhood  conservation,  in  • 

W'AVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


terms  of  the  taxpayer's  dollar,  may  one  clay  inspire  the 
establishment,  in  every  large  city,  of  a  "Department  of 
Conservation"  whose  sole  function  it  will  be,  by  precept, 
example,  and  inspirational  activity,  to  promote  com- 
munity stabilization  projects  in  potentially  and  par- 
tially depreciated  sections  throughout  the  city. 

To  this  end,  the  projected  department  would  stimu- 
late the  formation,  in  selected  areas,  of  property  owners' 
associations  designed  to  carry  conservation  projects 
forward,  pursuant  to  its  own  carefully  prepared  pro- 
gram. Thereafter,  it  would  foster  the  continuing  and 
aggressive  interest  of  these  organizations  in  the  pres- 
ervation of  their  neighborhood  standards,  by  pro- 
moting annual  "clean-up,  paint-up,  and  fix-up"  cam- 
paigns and  by  conducting  intra-  and  inter-area  fairs, 
exhibitions,  and  awards  for  outstanding  individual, 
block,  and  district  excellence  in  maintenance,  embellish- 
ment, rehabilitation,  remodeling,  gardening,  land- 
scaping, etc.  It  would  make  available  to  the  individual 
home  owner,  through  his  neighborhood  organization, 
technical  information  (a)  on  the  planning  of  rehabilita- 
tion and  (b)  on  the  selection,  cost,  and  proper  application 
of  materials  and  equipment,  in  connection  with  his 
maintenance  efforts.  It  would  introduce  economies 
through  the  mass  purchase  of  materials  and  through 
group  contracts  for  maintenance,  painting,  repair,  and 
fuel.  It  would  supply  informed  and  sympathetic  repre- 
sentation when  matters  in  which  the  neighborhood  is 
interested  are  being  considered  by  the  municipality  or 
one  of  its  agencies.  And  it  would  undertake  numerous 
similar  activities,  which  only  the  salaried  staff  of  a 
municipal  department,  whose  field  of  action  embraces 
an  entire  metropolitan  area,  can  effectively  inaugurate 
and  administer. 

The  annual  monetary  cost  of  a  department  of  mu- 
nicipal government  of  this  type  would  be  small  as  com- 
pared with  its  direct  benefit  in  preserving  important 
social  values,  in  conserving  private  capital  invested  or 
loaned  in  home  communities  like  Waverly,  in  safe- 
guarding the  city  against  unproductive  or  duplicate 
expenditures  for  utilities,  streets,  and  schools,  and  in 
retaining  the  municipal  tax  base  unimpaired. 

BENEFICIAL  RESTRICTIONS 

Land  developers  in  and  about  Baltimore  have  oc- 
casionally included  restrictions  in  their  sales  deeds 
which,  by  imposing  limitations  on  the  individual  prop- 
erty owner,  in  fact  serve  to  benefit  the  community  as  a 
whole. 

In  these  deeds,  the  erection  and  operation  of 
breweries,  foundries,  mills,  factories,  store,  office  and 
apartment  buildings,  cemeteries,  hospitals,  etc.,  is  pro- 
hibited. Smoke  nuisance  is  banned.  Unless  later  for- 
mally exempted,  the  land  which  these  deeds  convey  may 
be  used  for  single-family  residential  purposes  only.  The 


erection  of  churches,  schools,  libraries,  etc.,  and  estab- 
lishment of  parks  and  playgrounds  must  be  specifically 
approved.  Set-back  lines  are  established  and  no  resi- 
dence, private  garage,  fence,  wall,  uncovered  porch,  bay 
window,  terrace  or  private  driveway  may  be  con- 
structed, enlarged,  altered  or  painted  until  plans  and 
specifications,  showing  the  nature,  kind,  shape,  height, 
materials,  floor  plan,  elevation,  first-floor  level,  location, 
lot  coverage,  grade  and  color  scheme  have  been  specifi- 
cally approved  in  writing.  Even  awnings  may  be 
erected  only  after  a  sample  of  the  proposed  material 
has  been  submitted  and  approved. 

Frequently,  these  sales  deeds  also  include  provisions 
which  confer  the  right  to  levy  a  subsequent  annual 
"maintenance  charge,"  not  exceeding  a  specified 
amount,  on  each  lot  sold,  whether  it  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  original  purchaser  or  of  a  successor.  The  consider- 
able amount  thus  collected  each  year  may  not  be  used 
for  the  physical  repair  of  individual  properties,  but  is 
applied,  for  the  benefit  and  protection  of  the  neighbor- 
hood as  a  whole,  to  public  lighting;  the  improvement 
and  maintenance  of  streets,  parks,  playgrounds,  sewers, 
and  drains;  the  removal  of  garbage  and  rubbish  (all 
of  which  services  are  usually  undertaken  by  the  munici- 
pality if  the  area  is  later  annexed  to  the  city) ;  and  for 
trimming  and  maintaining  curb  lawns  and  planted 
public  areas,  the  removal  of  snow,  the  examination 
and  approval  of  plans,  the  enforcement  of  restrictions, 
and  the  payment  of  taxes  on  and  upkeep  of  private 
parks  and  playgrounds. 

Unpaid  maintenance  charges  stand  as  a  lien  against 
the  subject  property  and  have  been  held  by  the  courts 
to  be  senior — irrespective  of  the  date  assessed — to  a 
mortgage  recorded  at  any  time  after  the  record  date  of 
the  original  conveyance  by  the  developer.  In  effect, 
this  establishes  the  area  as  a  quasi-municipal  district, 
subject  to  an  annual  tax  levy  for  neighborhood  benefit. 
By  means  of  clearly  defined  land-use,  maintenance 
and  landscape  control,  and  other  like  restrictions,  these 
vendors'  deeds  thus  subordinate  the  right  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  independent  action,  if  such  action  is  detri- 
mental to  the  neighborhood,  and  thus  eventually  con- 
stitute a  definite  benefit  both  to  him  individually  and 
to  his  community  as  a  whole. 

Undoubtedly  due,  in  considerable  measure  at  least, 
to  this  recognition  of  the  protective  force  of  community 
coordination,  homes  which  were  built  in  these  restricted 
sections  as  far  back  as  1892 — almost  a  half  century 
ago — have  been  sold  during  the  past  few  years  at  prices 
which  actually  exceed  their  original  cost.  Con- 
struction costs  have,  of  course,  increased  greatly  dur- 
ing the  period  in  question,  but  these  sales  assume 
importance  when  it  is  pointed  out  that  only  in  these 
restricted  areas  was  this  comparative  level  reached 
and  that  in  unrestricted  sections  (originally  at  least  as 
favorably  located  and,  during  the  same  era,  improved 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


65 


with  equivalent  residential  structures)  recent  sales 
show  a  general  and  frequently  a  sharp  investment  loss. 
While  the  noteworthy  degree  of  individual  restriction 
for  collective  benefit  which  has  thus  been  so  advantage- 
ously applied,  cannot  easily  he  established  in  previously 
developed  communities  like  Waverly,  the  effective 
protection  against  undesirable  infiltration,  improper 
land  use,  unattractive  street  pictures  and  initial  blight 
infection  which  such  restrictions  provide,  warrants 
any  reasonable  effort  that  may  be  required  to  secure 
their  voluntary  legal  assumption  by  coherent  residential 
groups  in  that  Area,  to  the  fullest  extent  possible. 

NEIGHBORHOOD   CONSERVATION    FINANCING 

If  sound  economic  principles  are  to  be  observed,  it 
is  fundamental  that  the  final  maturity  of  a  monthly 
installment  repair  loan,  covering  a  variety  of  items,  be 
shorter  than  the  average  useful  life  of  the  repairs 
involved.  It  is,  however,  in  no  way  essential  that  the 
borrower  be  compelled  to  discharge  his  entire  loan 
before  the  date  when  the  most  perishable  single  item 
of  financed  reconditioning  will  require  renewal.  Exte- 
rior paint,  for  example,  must  be  restored  at  more 
frequent  intervals  than  any  other  ordinary  type  of 
repair,  but  it  will  last  considerably  longer  than  3  years, 
if  standard  materials  and  workmanship  are  used. 
Items  such  as  newly  installed  heating  plants  and  plumb- 
ing equipment,  and  new  hardwood  floors  over  old  soft 
wood  floors  have  a  useful  life  greatly  exceeding  that 
period.  Reconditioning  like  conversion  and  architec- 
tural modernization  will  usually  benefit  the  subject  struc- 
ture for  a  period  roughly  equivalent  to  its  economic  life. 
If  a  reconditioning  advance  is  so  cast  that  the  average 
remaining  life  of  the  particular  combination  of  repairs 


it  finances  extends  beyond  the  last  installment  date 
such  advance,  then  sound  financial  practice  will  have 
been  observed. 

Title  I  of  the  National  Housing  Act  now  provides  a 
practical  formula  for  the  financing  of  a  moderate  degree 
of  repair  and  to  it  many  Waverly  owners  can  have  ready 
recourse.  If  the  cost  of  a  proposed  reconditioning  job  is 
relatively  large,  however — and  much  of  it  is — the  3-year 
32-day  repayment  period  to  which  loans  under  Title  I 
are  now  limited,  develops  a  monthly  installment  which 
is  too  heavy  for  the  average  small-home  owner  to  as- 
sume with  that  degree  of  convenience  and  assurance 
which  is  essential  to  the  final  success  of  his  undertaking. 

The  provisions  governing  loans  insured  under  Section 
207  of  the  Act,  on  the  other  hand,  permit  an  ample 
repayment  period,  but  eligibility  restrictions  tend  to 
reduce  the  availability  of  that  section  for  general 
neighborhood  conservation  financing  purposes,  in  areas 
where  single-family  residential  units  predominate. 

Legislative  amendment  to  the  National  Housing 
Act  which  will  permit  the  insurance  of  individual 
repair  and  rehabilitation  loans  having  maturities 
closely  synchronized  with  the  average  life  span  of  the 
related  improvements,  as  calculated  under  a  sound 
mathematical  formula,  would  definitely  contribute  to 
the  benefits  which  it  is  anticipated  the  national  economy 
will  derive  from  organized  urban  neighborhood  conser- 
vation. Thus  the  latter  would  have  the  benefit  not 
only  of  a  loan  form  exactly  keyed  to  its  needs  but  also 
of  the  great  financial  power,  the  wide  experience,  the, 
extensive  mortgage  banking  contacts,  the  already 
efficiently  functioning  field  and  technical  organization 
and  the  established  operating  standards  which  the 
Federal  Housing  Administration  has  so  soundly  and  so 
successfully  developed. 


. 


66 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Summary 


Briefly  summarized,  the  survey  and  planning  phase 
of  the  Waverly  project  served  definitely  to  demonstrate 
that  (1)  there  exists  a  discernible  though  as  yet  incipient 
tlireat  to  the  economic  and  social  integrity  of  the  Area; 
(2)  a  definite  cure  for  its  present  and  prospective  ills  is 
available;  (3)  this  cure  is  an  obvious  and  comparatively 
simple  one;  and  (4)  its  ultimate  effectiveness  will  be 
exactly  measured  by  the  extent  and  permanence  of  the 
cooperation  which  the  Waverly  Conservation  League  is 
henceforth  able  to  inspire  among  the  residents  of  the 
Area  as  a  whole. 

The  formula  which  has  been  embodied  in  the  Master 
Plan  for  the  solution  of  Waverly's  problem  provides  a 
pattern  which,  in  general,  will  be  found  suitable  for  the 
treatment  of  similarly  threatened  small-home  neigh- 


borhoods everywhere.  The  extent  to  which  it  may  also 
be  successfully  applied  to  areas  improved  with  large, 
single-family  dwellings  or  with  apartment  buildings,  can 
be  determined  only  after  surveys  and  analyses  have  been 
made  of  selected  test  districts  in  which  structures  of 
each  of  these  two  types  predominate.  Followed  con- 
sistently in  the  Area  for  which  it  was  specifically  de- 
signed, however — or  in  any  other  single-family  resi- 
dential neighborhood  whose  structures  still  retain  a 
definite  measure  of  economic  value  and  have  a  room  and 
total  cubic  content  similar  to  Waverly's — that  formula 
will  long  halt  the  process  of  physical,  social,  and  eco- 
nomic disintegration  which  is  so  insidiously  and  relent- 
lessly attacking  increasingly  great  urban  districts 
throughout  the  United  States. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


61 


APPENDIX  A 


DISTRICT  A— WAVERLY 
DIVISIONAL  STUDY 

In  order  to  segregate,  group,  and  analyze  certain 
related  factors,  during  the  survey  and  planning  phase  of 
the  program,  more  definitely  than  would  have  been 


possible  if  the  entire  Area  had  been  used  as  the  observa- 
tion unit,  Waverly  was  broken  down  for  economic  study 
into  six  broadly  similar  sections,  designated  by  letters 
from  A  to  F.  An  outline  of  the  analysis  of  one  of  these 
sections — District  A — follows.  Unless  exception  to  the 
contrary  is  noted,  all  maps,  tables,  and  comment  in  this 
section  of  the  report  refer  to  District  A  only. 


MODEL  OF  DISTRICT  "A",  WAVERLY, 
AS  REPLANNED 


Drawing  No.  28 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN  NEIGHliORIIOOD  CONSERVATION 


69 


Comprising  31.6  acres  in  the  extreme  southern  por- 
tion of  the  Area,  District  A  includes  old,  middle-aged, 
and  relatively  new  frame  and  masonry  commercial  and 
residential  structures ;  detached,  semi-detached  and  row 
houses  in  good,  fair,  and  poor  repair;  properly  and  im- 
properly placed  building  improvements;  and  well  and 
badly  planned  street  patterns — all  in  approximately 
the  same  admixture  that  is  typical  of  the  Waverly  area 
as  a  whole. 

District   Subdivision 

To  facilitate  still  closer  comparisons  and  contrasts, 
District  A  was  further  broken  down  into  six  Divisions, 
each  of  which  includes  a  group  of  properties  having  vir- 
tually identical  characteristics  as  to  age,  type,  material, 
condition,  obsolescence,  etc.,  and  each  of  which,  in  these 
characteristics,  differs  sharply  from  all  other  Divisions 
within  the  District.  Though  this  grouping  produces  an 
irregular  map  pattern,  it  considerably  facilitates  the 
determination  of  long-term  trends. 

Divisional  lines  appear  on  drawing  No.  29.  Land 
use  and  structural  types  are  shown  on  drawing  No.  30. 

Group  characteristics  are  described  as  follows: 

Division  No.  1. — Includes  one-third  of  the  frame, 
single-family  detached  and  all  of  the  semi-detached 
houses  in  District  A.  Of  poor  design  and  in  need  of 


architectural  changes,  these  houses  are  closely  spaced 
on  narrow  lots.  Some  lie  below  the  sidewalk  level. 
Almost  all  of  them  need  extensive  repair  and  land- 
scaping. Approximately  half  border  on  the  commercial 
area. 

Division  No.  2. — Consists  of  single-family,  detached 
frame  houses,  usually  3  rooms  deep,  too  closely  spaced, 
iind  in  need  of  extensive  repairs,  architectural  changes, 
and  landscaping.  They  are  located  along  Venable  Ave- 
nue, a  stub  end  street  which  definitely  needs  new  sur- 
facing, sidewalks,  curbs,  etc.,  and  eventual  extension. 

Division  No.  3. — Includes  26  old-style,  masonry  row 
houses,  some  of  which  need  painting  and  minor  repair. 
While  3  rooms  deep,  they  are  in  good  general  condition. 

Division  No.  4- — Consists  entirely  of  single-family, 
detached  frame  houses,  without  definite  alinement. 
Many  of  them  are  too  closely  spaced  on  narrow  lots, 
but  the  majority  have  sufficient  land  accommodation. 
All  are  reasonably  well  maintained,  although  some  need 
minor  repair  and  landscaping. 

Division  No.  5. — Contains  only  comparatively  new, 
brick  row  houses,  well  designed  and  in  excellent  physical 
condition.  This  group  includes  the  most  modern  and 
best  maintained  properties  in  the  District.  Its  units 
need  practically  no  repair. 


DIVISION  INTO  GROUPS  OF 
SIMILAR  AGE,  TYPE,  AND  CONDITION 


District  "A" -Waverly 


BO  160  j«0 


Drawing  No.  29 


70 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Table  No.  26 
COMMERCIAL  AND  RESIDENTIAL  STRUCTURES 

Total 
num- 
ber 

Use 

Division 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Number 

Percent 

Number 

Percent 

Number 

Percent 

Number 

Percent 

Number 

Percent 

Number 

Percent 

Commercial 

0 
36 

0 
100 

0 

11 

0 
100 

0 
23 

0 
100 

0 
25 

0 

100 

0 
101 

0 
100 

9 
15 

39 
61 

9 
211 

Residential  - 

Total 

36 

100 

11 

100 

23 

100 

25 

100 

101 

100 

24 

100 

220 

NOTE.—  Percent  discloses  relationship  between  commercial  or  residential  units  in  each  division  to  the  total  number  of  their  type  in  District  A. 

Diirision  No.  6. — Comprises  all  property  zoned  for 
commercial  purposes  and  includes  combination  resi- 
dence and  business  structures,  as  well  as  buildings  pri- 
marily designed  for  commercial  use,  apartments,  etc. 

Division  6  Omitted 

In  table  No.  26,  commercial  and  residential  proper- 


ties are  segregated  by  Divisions.  Division  6  includes 
all  property  in  District  A  which  lies  along  Greenmount 
Avenue,  the  principal  business  artery  of  Waverly.  The 
land  value  of  the  vacant  property  and  of  the  property 
which  has  been  improved  primarily  for  commercial 
purposes  within  this  Division  is,  of  course,  largely  based 
on  business  use.  The  14  converted  dwellings  within 


LAND  USE  AND  STRUCTURAL  TYPES 


KEY 

COMMERCIAL  USE 

Frame 
BB   Masonry 

RESIDENTIAL  USE 

33  Frame 
Masonry 


Draw.n3  No.  30 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


71 


the  Division,  now  used  for  both  business  and  residential 
purposes,  are  in  a  transitional  stage,  residential  being 
only  incidental  to  commercial  use,  and  the  value  of  the 
land  under  them  is  also  based  on  projected  commercial, 
rather  than  on  present  residential,  use.  To  include 
Division  6  as  a  factor  in  tabulating  and  computing 
residential  data  for  the  entire  District  would  serve  only 
to  distort  the  resulting  figures  and  would  make  impos- 
sible a  correct  analysis  of  the  social  and  economic 
conditions  which  prevail  throughout  the  residential 
portion  of  District  A.  In  all  subsequent  computations, 
tabulations,  and  references,  therefore,  data  relating  to 
Division  6  are  omitted  as  a  computation  factor,  unless 
specific  exception  is  noted. 

Since  the  residential  use  of  the  three  converted  dwell- 
ings which  lie  outside  Division  6  is  at  least  as  important 
as  their  business  use,  and  because  their  present  partial- 
conversion  status  represents  a  nonconforming  use  which 
reconversion  or  destruction  will  eventually  eradicate, 
these  three  structures  arc,  for  convenience,  hereafter 

tabulated  as  residential. 

I 
Exterior  Materials 

Classification  of  exterior  structural  materials,  by 
Divisions,  is  made  in  table  No.  27. 


Table  No.  27 
EXTERIOR  MATERIAL  BY  DIVISIONS 

Division 

Frame 

Masonry 

Total 

1_ 

17 
11 
0 
25 
0 
3 

19 
0 
23 

1 
101 
20 

36 
11 
23 
26 
101 
23 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Total 

56 

164 

220 

TAXES 

Assessed  Value 

No  new  residential  structures  were  built  in  District 
A  between  the  years  1927  and  1939. 

The  structural  depreciation  which  accrued  on  all 
commercial  and  converted  buildings  during  that 
period  was  more  than  offset  by  the  increased  assess- 
ment on  the  land  underlying  these  structures — with 
the  result  that  the  combined  tax  value  of  both  land  and 
buildings  in  the  commercial  class  increased  50  percent 
during  the  12-year  period  between  1927  and  1939.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  total  assessment  for  residential 
land  and  improvements  combined  decreased  by  12 
percent  between  1927  and  1939. 


72 


Table  No.  28 

AVERAGE  ASSESSMENT 
(Land  and  improvements) 


Type 


Commercial 

Commercial  and 

residential 

Residential.  _ 


1927 


$19,261 

5,  131 

5,  196 


1939 


$30,  440 

6,500 
4,047 


Increase 


$11,  179 
1,369 


Decrease 


$1,  149 


Average  values  assessed  for  tax  purposes  in  1927  and 
1939  are  shown  in  table  No.  28.  These  values  for  1939 
are  charted  on  drawing  No.  31. 

Since  the  proportion  of  modern  and  old  buildings  in 
the  commercial  and  converted  group,  is  roughly  similar 
to  the  proportion  in  the  residential  class,  it  may  be 
assumed  that  accrued  depreciation  and  the  deflation 
of  high  post-war  construction  cos,ts  are  given  equivalent 
weight  in  the  District  A  assessment  of  both  groups. 
The  12-percent  shrinkage  in  District  residential  assessed 
values,  depicted  in  tables  Nos.  28  and  29,  not  only 
runs  directly  counter  to  the  trend  of  assessment  for 
District  commercial  and  converted  property,  but  also 
counter  to  the  general  Baltimore  and  national  trend, 
and  quite  strikingly  reflects  the  adverse  influence  of 
incipient  but  definite  blight  infection,  within  the  body 
of  District  A,  on  its  residential  values. 

Without  exception,  as  is  evident  from  an  examination 
of  table  No.  29,  every  Division  in  the  District  reflects 
this  depreciating  influence. 

Tax  Delinquence 

Data  relating  to  tax  levy  and  delinquence  were 
obtained  from  the  records  in  the  Baltimore  City  Hall 
and  Courthouse,  as  of  July  31,  1939. 


Table  No.  29 

DIRECTION  OF  ASSESSED  VALUES 
(Land  and  residential  improvements) 

Division 

1927 

1939 

Decrease 

Amount 

Percent 

1 

$104,  180 
40,  710 
121,600 
141,040 
676,  220 

$101,  800 
38,  290 
96,  340 
132,  930 
586,  350 

$2,  380 
2,420 
25,  260 
8,  110 
89,  870 

2.  4 
6.0 
20.  8 
5.8 
13.  3 

2  

3 

4 

5 

Total  

1,  083,  750 

955,  710 

128,  040 

11.  8 

NOTE.—  No  new  residentta!  units  were  constructed  in  District  A  between  1927 
and  1939. 

WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


In  terms  of  residential  units,  8  percent  of  the  proper- 
ties in  District  A  were  in  arrears  in  the  payment  of  taxes 
on  that  date.  In  terms  of  the  1939  levy,  13  percent  of 
the  total  residential  tax  was  delinquent.  Evidently, 
greater  delinquence  occurs  in  the  higher  assessment 
brackets. 

A  13-percent  delinquency  for  the  District  compares 
favorably  with  a  15-percent  record  for  the  city  as  a 
whole. 

Tax  Sales 

Under  the  Maryland  code,  real  estate  may  be  sold  to 
satisfy  unpaid  tax  liens  after  June  30  of  each  year.  As 
a  matter  of  practice,  however,  sales  are  usually  post- 


poned for  from  three  to  four  years  or  until  the  statute 
of  limitations  is  about  to  become  operative.  That  few, 
if  any,  of  the  16  properties  in  District  A,  which  are  at 
present  in  arrears,  will  eventually  be  sold  for  taxes,  may 
be  inferred  from  table  No.  31. 


Table  No.  30 

CITY    AND    DISTRICT    TAX    DELINQUENCE 

(Land  and  residential  improvements) 


Area 

1939  tax 
levy 

1939  taxes 
delinquent 

Per- 
cent 

City  of  Baltimore  
District  A  

$26,  609,  165 
42,  264 

$4,  001,  019 
7,  586 

15 
13 

Table  No.  31 

TAX  DELINQUENCE  BY  DIVISIONS 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Number  properties   delin- 
quent in  tax  payments 
for— 

Total 
num- 
ber 
in 
dis- 
trict 

Total 
num- 
ber 
de- 
lin- 
quent 

Per- 
cent 
de- 
lin- 
quent 
to 
total 

Under 
one 
year 

One 
to 
two 
years 

Two 
to 
three 
years 

Over 
three 
years 

1 

2 
0 
0 

1 
3 

3 
2 
1 
0 
1 

0 
1 
1 

1 
0 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

36 
11 
23 
26 
100 

5 
3 
2 
2 
4 

14 
27 
9 
8 
4 

2  

3 

4.   

5 

Total... 

6 

7 

3 

0 

196 

16 

8 

AVERAGE  ASSESSED  VALUE  BY  DIVISIONS 

LAND  AND  IMPROVEMENTS 
1939 


District  "A"  — Waverly 


Drawing  No.  31 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


73 


Tax  Delinquence — Encumbrances — Repairs — Age 

Divisional  comparisons  in  table  No.  32  show  quite 
clearly  that  there  is  little  or  no  relationship  between 
structural  age,  as  such,  and  mortgage  status,  post- 
poned reconditioning  or  tax  delinquence,  but  that 
when  ratios  are  high  between  any  two  of  the  three 
factors  last  named,  the  age  factor  is  usually  found  also  to 
be  present.  Neighborhoods  which  have  high  ratios  of 
tax  delinquence  also  show  high  ratios  of  mortgage 
encumbrance  and  physical  deterioration.  And,  finally, 
a  direct  relationship  between  mortgage  and  maintenance 
ratios  is  disclosed. 

Particularly  noteworthy  is  the  fact  that  the  highest 
ratio  of  tax  delinquency  occurs  in  those  property  groups 
which  are  in  the  poorest  structural  condition  and  that, 
conversely,  the  lowest  delinquency  ratio  is  found  in 
the  best  maintained  neighborhood.  Whether  continued 
structural  obsolescence,  postponed  repairs,  and  tax 
arrearages  reflect  only  a  reduced  economic  status  or 
can  be  attributed  also  to  discouragement  with  neigh- 
borhood conditions,  unwillingness  to  increase  present 
investment,  and  a  consequent  indifference  to  the 
prompt  discharge  of  tax  obligations,  cannot  be  deter- 
mined. That  a  direct  relationship  exists,  however, 
between  residential  desirability  and  prompt  tax  pay- 
ment, is  evident. 


Table  No.  32 

COMPARISON  OF  DELINQUENCE,  MORTGAGES, 
REPAIRS,  AND  AGE 

Division 

Percent 

Average 
struc- 
tural age 

Delinquent 
to  nondelin- 
quent  prop- 
erties 

Mort- 
gaged to 
clear 
properties 

Properties 
needing 
recondi- 
tioning to 
all  others 

1 

14 

27 
9 
8 
4 

53 
54 
39 
27 
43 

94 
100 
43 
35 
20 

53 
44 
25 
49 
17 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Tax  Delinquence  and  Ground  Ownership 

Under  the  ground  lease  system  which  largely  prevails 
in  Baltimore,  over  75  percent  of  the  residences  in 
Waverly  are  built  on  sites  the  fee  to  which  is  not  held 
by  the  owner  of  the  structure.  Ground  rents  in  these 
cases  constitute  a  lien  senior  to  all  other  subsequently 
imposed  liens  except  those  for  municipal  and  state 
taxes.  The  payment  of  taxes  by  the  lessor,  as  they 
accrue,  is  one  of  the  usual  conditions  of  these  leases. 

In  terms  of  residential  units,  1939  taxes  were  delin- 


Table  No.  33 

TAX  DELINQUENCE  AND  GROUND  OWNERSHIP 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Improvements  owned 
subject  to  ground  lease 

Improvements  and 

ground  in  one 
ownership 

Num- 
ber 
under 
ground 
leases 

Num- 
ber 
delin- 
quent 
in  tax 
pay- 
ments 

Per- 
cent 

Num- 
ber 
identi- 
cally 
owned 

Num- 
ber 
delin- 
quent 
in  tax 
pay- 
ments 

Per- 
cent 

1 

26 
10 
5 
16 

70 

3 
3 
2 

1 
3 

15 
30 
40 
6 
4 

10 

1 

18 
10 
30 

2 
0 
0 

1 
1 

20 
0 
0 
10 
3 

2         

3 

4 

5 

Total--- 

127 

12 

9 

69 

4 

6 

quent  on  9.44  percent  of  the  properties  in  the  District 
which  are  subject  to  ground  lease  arid  on  5.79  percent 
of  those  where  the  ownership  of  the  fee  and  the  improve- 
ment is  identical.  Furthermore,  tax  payment  arrear- 
ages were  highest  in  those  ground  lease  groups  which 
from  a  residential  standpoint,  are  least  desirable.  N 
other  relationship  appears  to  exist  between  tax  delin 
quence  and  ground  ownership. 

RECONDITIONING 

Structural  Condition 

The  field  survey  and  office  analysis  developed 
recommendation  for  demolition  in  District  A.  There 
are  196  residential  properties  in  the  district,  of  which  13 
are  poorly  maintained,  101  need  more  or  less  important 


Table  No.  34 
CONDITION  OF  EXTERIOR 

Division 

Number 

Poor 

Fail- 
to 
good 

Good 

1 

8 
5 
0 
0 
0 

23 
6 
11 
24 
37 

5 
0 
12 
2 
63 

2                                       

3 

4 

5                                       

Total 

13 

101 

82 

74 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Table  No.  35 

REPRODUCTION  COST,  DEPRECIATION,  AND  "AS  IS"  VALUK 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Reproduction 
cost 

Physical 
deprecia- 
tion ' 

Func- 
tional and 
economic 
deprecia- 
tion 2 

Total  depreciation 

Total 
"as  is" 
value 

Average 
"as  is" 
value 

Amount 

Percent 

1. 

$131,450 
62,800 
122,  200 
177,  250 
534,  525 

$36,  400 
20,800 
23,  500 
41,  350 
89,  550 

$33,  250 
14,  200 
20,  000 
34,  950 
54,  625 

69,  650 
35,  000 
43,  500 
76,  300 
144,  175 

53 
55 
36 
43 

27 

$61,  800 
27,  800 
78,  700 
100,  950 
390.  350 

$1,714 
2,545 
3,422 
3,  610 
3,904 

2 

3 

4  . 

5 

Total.. 

1,028,  225 

211,600 

157.  025 

368,  625 

3  36 

659,  600 

3  3,  039 

1  Necessary  reconditioning.                                                  'Obsolescence..                                                   'Average. 

reconditioning,  and  82  are  in  good  repair.     Divisions  1 
and  2  rate  lowest  in  structural  condition. 

Reproduction  Value 

The  replacement  cost  of  all  residential  structures  was 
estimated  at  $1,028,225;  physical  depreciation  and  ob- 
solescence at  $368,625;  and  present  value  at  $659,600. 
Depreciation,  which  thus  averages  36  percent,  is  of 
course  greatest  in  the  three  older  divisions  of  the 
District. 

The  relationship  between  reproduction  cost,  physical, 
functional,  and  economic  depreciation,  and  present 
value  is  shown  in  table  No.  35. 

Distribution  of  Repair  Cost 

Of  the  196  dwellings  in  the  District,  35  are  in  need 
of  major  reconditioning,  exceeding  $200  per  unit  in 


Table  No.  36 

RECONDITIONING  COSTS 

(Only  residential  structures  needing  over  $200  of  repairs) 

1  livision 

Total 
units 
in    dis- 
trict 

Estimated  cost  and  number 
of  units 

Total 
units  to 
be  re- 
paired 

$200 
to 
$349 

$350 
to 
$499 

$500 
to 
$749 

Over 
$750 

1      . 

36 
11 
23 
26 
100 

5 
6 
0 
2 

1 

8 
2 
0 
4 
0 

3 
3 
0 
0 
0 

1 
0 
0 
0 
0 

17 
11 
0 
6 

1 

2 

3  

4     ' 

5-     

TotaL. 

196 

14 

14 

6 

1 

35 

cost.     They  lie  wholly  in  those  divisions  which  include 
only  old,  single-family  and  semi-detached  structures. 

Reconditioned   Value 

The  total  cost  of  the  repairs  which  are  necessary  to 
bring  these  structures  back  to  Area  standards  is  esti- 
mated at  $16,985.  If  completed,  the  proposed  pro- 
gram will  increase  their  value  by  $23,950.  While  the 
enhancement  of  investment  values  above  the  actual 
cost  of  repair  is  an  objective  quite  secondary  to  struc- 
tural conservation,  the  fact  that  the  amount  invested 
in  maintenance  repairs  will  produce  a  projected  40 
percent  investment  profit  should  further  stimulate  the 
active  cooperation  of  affected  property  owners  in  the 
conservation  program.  As  might  be  anticipated,  by 
far  the  greatest  need  for  reconditioning  occurs  in 
Divisions  1  and  2,  which  comprise  old  frame  structures 
onlv. 


Table  No.  37 
RECONDITIONED  COST  AND  APPRECIATION 

(Only  residential  structures  needing  reconditioning) 

Division 

"As  is" 
appraised 
value 

"As  re- 
condi- 
tioned" 
value 

Estima- 
ted cost 
of  recon- 
dition- 
ing 

Increase 
over 
cost  of 
recondi- 
tioning 

Percent 
increase 
over 
cost 

1.-- 

$56,  600 
27,  800 
4,  100 
29,  800 

7,  900 

$68,  600 
36,  000 
4,300 
32,  900 
8,350 

$9,  361 
4,592 
125 
2,525 
382 

$2,  639 
3,608 
75 
575 
68 

28 
79 
60 
23 

18 

2 

3- 

4 

5 

Total  __ 

126,  200 

150,  150 

16,  985 

6,  965 

41 

NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


75 


Appraised  and  Assessed  Values 

The  structural  value  which  the  city  placed  for  tax 
purposes  on  the  first  four  divisions  in  District  A  is  33 
percent  less  than  the  value  which  was  set  on  this  prop- 
erty by  the  field  survey  appraisers.  The  assessed  value 
of  District  5 — in  which  are  located  all  of  the  dwellings 
built  since  1920 — exceeds  its  appraised  value  by  approx- 
imately 14  percent,  indicating  that  the  city's  assessment 
continues  to  reflect  the  inflated  building  cost  and  sales 
levels  of  the  post-war  period.  Here  is  an  opportunity 
for  constructive  effort  by  an  active  neighborhood  or- 
ganization. 


Table  No.  38 

APPRAISED  AND  ASSESSED  VALUES 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

"As  is" 
appraised 

1939 
assessed 

Appraised 
exceeds 
assessed 
by 

Assessed 
exceeds 
appraised 
by 

1 

$61,  800 
27,  800 
78,  700 
100,  950 
390,  350 

$45,  670 
15,  500 
70,  230 
67,  750 
447,  830 

$16,  130 
12,  300 
8,470 
33,  200 

2 

3 

4 

5 

$57,  480 

Total 

659,  600 

646,  980 

12,  620 

OCCUPANCY 

Owners  and  Tenants 

In  an  area  of  single-family  homes  like  Waverly,  a 
high  factor  of  leased  property  may  point  toward  in- 
cipient neighborhood  depreciation.  The  ratio  of  rented 
to  owner-occupied  dwellings  will  frequently  measure 
the  extent  to  which  this  decline  has  progressed. 

At  the  time  the  field  survey  was  completed,  only  5 
out  of  the  196  residential  units  in  District  A  were 
vacant.  Roughly,  four-fifths  of  the  balance  were 
owner-occupied  and  one-fifth  were  tenant-occupied. 
The  national  ratio  of  owner-occupied  to  tenant-occupied 
units  7  is  approximately  4 : 6  while  that  for  District  A  is 
4:1.  A  ratio  of  owner  occupancy  to  tenant  occupancy 
roughly  6  times  the  national  average,  is  thus  disclosed. 

The  ratio  between  the  number  of  tenant-occupied 
frame  houses  and  the  number  of  tenant-occupied  brick 
structures  is  virtually  the  same  as  the  ratio  between 
the  total  number  of  frame  homes  to  the  total  number  of 
brick  houses  in  the  District.  This  indicates  a  balanced 
supply  of  rental  offerings,  which  is  always  a  healthy 
sign. 

'  Real  Property  Inventory. 


Divisional  owner-tenant  distribution  is  confused  and 
without  apparent  significance.  Although  Divisions  1 
and  2  most  closely  resemble  each  other  as  to  structural 
age,  type,  and  condition,  tenant  occupancy  in  Division 
1  is  the  highest  (30  percent)  and  in  Division  2  is  the 
lowest  (9  percent)  in  the  community. 

Drawing  No.  32  graphically  depicts  the  relationship 
between  owner  and  tenant  occupancy. 


Table  No.  39 

OWNER  AND  TENANT  OCCUPANCY 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Total 
struc- 
tures 

Num- 
ber 
owner 
occu- 
pied 

Per- 
cent 
of 
whole 

Num- 
ber 
ten- 
ant 
occu- 
pied 

Per- 
cent 
of 

whole 

Va- 
cant 

Per- 
cent 
of 
whole 

1  

36 
11 
23 

26 
100 

24 
10 
19 
19 
82 

67 
91 
83 
73 
82 

11 
1 
4 
7 
14 

31 
9 
17 
27 
14 

1 
0 
0 
0 
4 

3 
0 
0 
0 
4 

2 

3          

4 

Total.  _. 

196 

154 

79 

37 

19 

5 

3 

Duration  of  Ownership 

As  might  be  expected,  owners  tend  to  occupy  their 
homes  much  longer  than  tenants.  Of  the  154  owner- 
occupants  in  the  District,  105  (or  over  two-thirds)  have 
lived  in  the  same  houses  for  10  years  or  more,  and  69 
(or  almost  oneJialf  of  them)  have  a  continuous  occu- 
pancy record  exceeding  15  years.  Division  4,  which 
comprises  old,  frame,  single-family  houses  in  good 
average  repair,  shows  the  highest  percentage  of  un- 
broken occupancy,  85  percent  of  its  residential  struc- 
tures having  been  continuously  occupied  by  the  same 
owners  for  over  10  years  and  73  percent  for  over  15 


Table  No.  40 

DURATION  OF  OWNER  OCCUPANCY 

(Owner-occupied  residences  only) 

No 
report 

Division 

Total 
owner- 
occu- 
pied 
struc- 
tures 

Length  of  occupancy  in  years 

Less 
than  2 

2  to  5 

6  to  10 

11  to 
15 

Over 
15 

1 

24 
10 
19 
19 

82 

3 

1 
0 
1 
0 

0 
1 
2 
1 
9 

6 
0 
4 
0 
10 

5 
0 
1 
2 

28 

8 
5 
10 
14 
32 

2 
3 
2 
1 
3 

2 

3 

4 

5 

Total.  .. 

154 

5 

13 

20 

36 

69 

11 

76 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY 


years.  Division  5,  a  much  newer,  all-brick,  row-house 
section,  follows  closely,  with  100  percent  of  its  buildings 
occupied  for  at  least  2  years,  75  percent  for  over  10,  and 
40  percent  for  over  1 5  years. 

While  it  is  quite  evident  that  structural  age  alone  has 
little  or  no  influence  on  continuity,  it  is  equally  clear 


Table  No.  41 

DURATION  OF  TENANT  OCCUPANCY 
(Tenant-occupied  residences  only) 

Division 

Total 
owner- 
occu- 
pied 

struc- 
tures 

Length  of  occupancy  in  years 

No 
report 

Less 
than  2 

2  to  5 

6  to  10 

11  to 
15 

Over 
15 

1 

11 
1 
4 

7 
14 

1 
0 
0 
2 
2 

li 
0 
3 
3 
5 

1 
0 
1 
1 
5 

2 
0 
0 
0 
0 

1 
0 
0 
0 

1 

0 
1 
0 
1 
1 

9 

3 

4 

5      

Total... 

37 

5 

17 

8 

2 

2 

3 

that  there  is  a  direct  relationship  between  adequate 
maintenance  and  duration  of  occupancy. 

Duration  of  Tenancy 

Evident  in  table  No.  41  is  an  equally  low  rate  of  tenant 
turn-over.  Approximately  6  percent  of  the  renters  in 
the  District  have  occupied  the  same  houses  for  more 
than  15  years;  12  percent  for  10  years  or  over;  and  33 
percent  for  varying  periods  in  excess  of  6  years.  The 
average  occupancy  period  appears  to  be  lengthening  in 
Division  5,  which  is  to  be  expected,  since,  structurally, 
it  is  the  youngest  community  in  the  District. 

Owner-Tenant  Mobility 

Since  data  relating  to  population  mobility  are  usually 
of  assistance  in  determining  the  attained  momentum  of 
decline  in  a  single-family  residential  neighborhood,  it  is 
interesting  to  observe  that  approximately  90  percent  of 
the  owner-occupied  units  in  the  District  have  housed  the 
same  families  for  more  than  5  years,  as  compared  with 
a  national  average  of  80.8  percent;  over  30  percent  of 
the  tenanted  property  has  been  occupied  by  the  same 
persons  for  more  than  5  years,  against  a  national  aver- 
age of  17.9  percent;  and  that  only  13  percent  of  the 


OCCUPANCY 
OF  BUILDINGS 


COMMERCIAL 

Owner  Tenant 


RESIDENTIAL 

Owner  Tenant 


District  "A"  —  Waverly 


N 

vt 


BO ISO  J40 


Drawms  No.  32 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


11 


tenants  in  District  A  have  occupied  their  present 
dwellings  for  less  than  2  years,  contrasted  with  an 
average  throughout  the  Nation  of  57.4  percent. 

It  thus  becomes  evident  that  District  A  is  a  pre- 
dominantly residential  community,  largely  owner-occu- 
pied, with  a  low  rate  of  mobility  among  both  owners 
and  tenants.  This  indicates  a  relatively  high  degree  of 
satisfaction  with  neighborhood  conditions. 

Occupancy  and  Structural  Age 

No  relationship  between  structural  age  and  type  of 
tenancy  is  discernible.  While  the  two  oldest  Divisions 
develop  the  lowest  ratios  of  owner-occupied  to  tenant- 
occupied  property,  the  third  oldest  shows  the  highest 
ratio. 

Increasingly  evident,  as  the  study  proceeds,  however, 
is  a  quite  constant  uniformity  in  the  tabulated  posi- 
tions of  both  the  older  and  the  newer  brick  row  neigh- 
borhoods, which  confirms  the  visual  impression  that 
Baltimore  has  developed  a  distinct  "row-house  type" 
of  owner  and  tenant. 


Table  No.  42 

OCCUPANCY  AND  STRUCTURAL  AGE 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Average 
age 

Percent 
of  owner 
occupied 

Percent 
of  tenant 
occupied 

Percent 
of 
vacant 

1                 .   ...    

53 

44 
25 
49 
17 

67 
91 
83 
73 

82 

31 
9 

17 
27 
14 

3 
0 
0 
0 
4 

2 

3                    .   .... 

4 

5 

Room  Ratios 

Except  during  periods  of  economic  distress,  the  aver- 
age number  of  occupants  per  room  and  the  presence  of 
extra  families  provide  sound  indices  of  social  conditions 
and  trends.  In  uncovering  and  bounding  a  substand- 
ard area,  it  is  quite  as  important  to  ascertain  whether 
the  buildings  within  its  limits  are  overcrowded  as  it  is 
to  learn  whether  they  are  obsolete,  unsafe,  insufficiently 
provided  with  light,  air,  and  sanitary  facilities,  in  need 
of  major  repair,  and  generally  below  decent  living 
standards. 

In  general,  overcrowding  is  of  two  kinds,  (a}  family 
occupancy  of  such  small  quarters  as  to  violate  reason- 
able standards  of  health,  comfort,  and  privacy,  and  (6) 
"doubling  up,"  or  the  sharing  of  single-family  quarters 
by  two  or  more  families,  each  of  which  would  occupy  a 
separate  living  unit  were  it  financially  able  to  do  so. 
Long-continued  overcrowding  facilitates  the  spread  of 


78 


sickness,  delinquency,  immorality,  and  finally  crime,  by 
making  impossible  a  large  part  of  that  privacy  which  is 
essential  to  the  dignity  of  normal  life.  The  reluctance 
of  occupants  to  disclose  that  economic  distress  which 
overcrowding  usually  denotes  often  makes  it  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  obtain  data  upon  which  to  base  studies 
relating  to  it. 


Ml'LTIPU 
Division 

;  OCCU1 

Persons 
in 
owner's 
family 

Table  No. 

ANCY    1 
PROPER 

Roomers 

43 

N'  OWNI 
TY 

Total 
occu- 
pants 

:R-OCCU 

Number 
of  rooms 

PIED 

Occu- 
pants pei- 
room 

1 

88 
52 
91 
71 
257 

3 
3 

1  6 
1  4 
10 

91 
55 
97 
75 
267 

145 
73 
127 
153 
562 

0.  63 

.  7.'. 
.  76 
.49 
.48 

2..  

3 

4   _ 

5 

Total.  . 

559              26 

585 

1,060 

.  55 

'  Divisions  3  and  4  each  include  one  extra  two-person  family. 

The  field  survey  of  District  A  disclosed  a  total  of 
1,303  rooms,  occupied  by  748  persons,  including  24 
roomers  and  2  extra  families  of  2  persons  each.  Tin- 
area  shows  no  evidence  of  overcrowding  or  harmful 
doubling  up.  Residential  structures  average  6.6  rooms 
each.  There  are  1.9  rooms  per  person  in  owner- 
occupied  homes  and  1.5  in  tenant-occupied  units. 
The  average  number  of  rooms  available  in  the  District 
for  each  occupant,  including  boarders  and  extra 
families,  is  1.74.  This  compares  most  favorably  with 
the  level  of  0.85  room  per  occupant  which  is  generally 
accepted  by  students  of  urban  social  problems  as  the 
lowest  permissible  minimum. 


Table  No.  44 

MULTIPLE  OCCUPANCY  IN  TENANT-OCCUPIED 
PROPERTY 

Division 

Persons 
in 
tenant's 
family 

Roomers 

Total  oc- 
cupants 

Number 
of  rooms 

Occu- 
pants per 
room 

1 

60 
5 
26 
32 
39 

0 
0 
0 
0 
1 

60 
5 
26 
32 
40 

60 
6 
28 
53 
94 

1.  00 

.83 
.93 
.60 
.43 

2 

3 

4 

5. 

Total. 

162 

1 

163 

241 

.  67 

WAVERLY—A  STUDY 


IN 


Occupancy  and   Mortgage  Status 

Examination  of  the  mortgage  records  in  the  City 
Hall  disclosed  that,  while  44.8  percent  of  the  owner- 
occupied  dwellings  in  the  District  are  mortgaged,  as 
compared  with  the  Real  Property  Inventory  national 
average  of  56.3  percent,  only  35  percent  of  the  rented 
structures  in  the  community  are  so  encumbered. 

Owner-occupied  property  is  most  frequently  mort- 
gaged in  the  two  oldest  Divisions;  that  in  the  third 
oldest,  least  frequently.  Exactly  reversed,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  the  mortgage  status  of  the  tenant- 
occupied  homes  in  these  three  Divisions. 

While,  therefore,  table  No.  45  discloses  a  broadly 
similar  total  ratio  of  mortgaged  to  clear  properties  in 
the  owner-occupied  and  tenant-occupied  groups,  a 
divisional  study  of  the  table  develops  quite  the  reverse 
of  this  relationship. 


Table  No.  45 

OCCUPANCY  AND  MORTGAGE  STATUS 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Num- 
ber 
owner 
occu- 
pied 

Num- 
ber of 
mort- 
gaged 
proper- 
ties 

Per- 
cent 

Num- 
ber 
tenant 
occu- 
pied 

Num- 
ber of 
mort- 
gaged 
proper- 
ties 

Per- 
cent 

1 

24 
10 
19 
19 

82 

15 
6 
9 
4 
35 

62 
60 
47 
21 
43 

11 
1 

4 
7 
14 

3 

0 
0 
3 

7 

28 
0 
0 
43 
50 

2 
3 

4 

5     . 

Total.  .. 

154 

69 

45 

37 

13 

35 

For  Sale  and  Rent 

Frequent  change  in  the  tenancy  of  rented  or  owner- 
occupied  homes  generally  indicates  either  economic 
distress  or  dissatisfaction  with  neighborhood  condi- 
tions. Usually  present  with  it,  in  either  case,  is  found 
a  relatively  low  standard  of  structural  maintenance 
and  declining  property  values. 

As  of  the  date,  of  this  report,  8  homes,  or  4  percent  of 
the  total  number  in  the  District,  were  being  offered  for 
sale;  5  dwellings,  or  2/2  percent  of  the  total,  were  being 
offered  for  rent;  and  5  homes,  or  1%  percent  of  the  194 
properties  in  the  District,  were  at  that  time  vacant. 
These  ratios  indicate  a  healthy  condition,  particularly 
since  offerings  were  well  scattered  throughout  the 
community. 

Title  Transfers 

During  the  20-year  period  between  1919  and  1939, 
the  average  annual  recorded  title  transfer,  except  build- 
ers' sales,  family  transfers,  and  sales  under  foreclosure, 


Table  No.  46 

PROPERTIES  FOR  SALE  AM)  RENT 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Total 
prop- 
erties 

Prop- 
erties 
for 
sale 

Per- 
cent 
of 
total 

Prop- 
erties 
for 
rent 

Per- 
cent 
of 
total 

Va- 
cant 

1 

36 
11 
23 
26 
100 

1 
0 
1 
1 
5 

3 

0 
4 
4 
5 

2 
0 
1 
0 
2 

6 
0 
4 
0 
2 

1 

0 
0 
0 
4 

5 

2  

3 

4 

5 

Total.  .. 

196 

8 

4 

5 

3 

of  the  154  owner-occupied  properties  in  District  A,  was 
slightly  over  4  percent  and  similar  transfer  among 
rented  properties  was  slightly  under  4  percent.  No 
important  divisional  relationships  are  developed  by  the 
tabulation  of  turn-over  figures,  but  in  examining  them 
it  is  interesting  to  note  that  four-fifths  of  the  houses  in 
the  District  changed  hands  at  least  once  during  the 
past  20  years;  that  the  83-percent  turn-over  figure  for 
the  owner-occupied  group  during  that  period  was  vir- 
tually identical  with  the  75-percent  figure  for  the  rental 
group;  and  that  the  highest  percentage  of  ownership 
change  (excluding  builder's  original  deed)  occurred  in 
the  new  row-house  section,  where  turn-over  was  100 
percent,  while  the  lowest  was  in  one  of  the  two  oldest 
and  least  well-maintained  Divisions,  where  a  50-percent 
turn-over  occurred. 


OCCUPANCY 

AND 

(Res 

Owner- 
occu- 
pied 
prop- 
erties 

Table  No.  47 

SALES  FREQUENCY,  1919-1939 

idential  structures  only) 

Division 

Sold  at 
least 
once 

Percent 

Tenant- 
occu- 
pied 
prop- 
erties 

Sold  at 
least 
once 

Percent 

Now 
vacant 

1 

24 
10 
19 
19 
82 

18 
5 
13 
12 
81 

75 
60 
08 
63 
99 

11 
1 
4 
7 

14 

7 
1 
4 
3 
14 

64 
100 
100 
43 
100 

1 
0 

I) 

0 
4 

2 

3 

4 

5     

Total 

154 

129 

83 

37 

29 

78 

5 

Multiple  Sales 

Disregarding  the  original  sale  from  the  builder  to 
the  owner-occupant,  and  omitting  family  transfers  and 
sales  under  foreclosure,  eveiy  residential  structure  in 
District  A  has,  on  the  average,  been  sold  \%  times 
during  the  past  20  years.  Complete  turn-over  has 
therefore  been  at  the  approximate  rate  of  once  each 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


79 


Table  No.  48 

Ml'I/rrPLK  SALES,  1919-1930 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Number  of  properties  which  were  sold 

Total 
sales 

Total 
prop- 
erties 

Per- 
cent 
sales 
to 
prop- 
erties 

Once 
only 

Twice 

Three 
times 

Four 
times 

Five 

times 
or 
more 

1  

17 
2 
8 
10 
44 

0 
2 
6 
3 
31 

3 
2 
2 
1 
13 

0 
1 
0 
0 

5 

1 
0 
0 
1 
2 

43 
16 
26 
24 
175 

36 
11 
23 
26 
100 

119 
145 
113 
93 

175 

2 

3  

4 

5  

Tot-il 

81 

48 

21 

C 

4 

284 

196 

145 

13  years.  Division  4,  with  an  average  turn-over  once 
each  21  years,  heads  the  list  for  immobility  of  occupants. 
The  position  of  Division  5  at  the  bottom  of  the  list, 
for  the  first  time  in  these  studies,  is  undoubtedly  due 
to  the  fact  that  property  ownership  in  that  compara- 
tively new  neighborhood  has  not  yet  "shaken  down." 
If,  for  the  moment,  Division  5  is  excluded  from  these 
calculations,  the  average  annual  turn-over  factor  for 
the  balance  of  District  A  falls  to  one  sale  each  18 
years.  While  comparable  figures  for  single-family 
residential  structures  elsewhere  in  the  United  States 
which  range  in  age  from  25  to  60  years  are  not  available, 
this  showing  certainly  does  not  indicate  any  marked 
exodus  of  dissatisfied  owners  from  the  older  and  pre- 
sumably less  desirable  sections  of  the  Waverly  com- 
munity. 

Latest  Sale 

Supplementing  and  confirming  the  conclusion  drawn 
from  table  No.  48  the  following  tabulation  shows  that  37 
homes  in  the  District  have  been  under  the  same  owner- 


Table  No.  49 

PROPERTY  SALES  BY  PERIODS  ' 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

No  sales 
in  20 
years 

Number  of  houses  last  sold 
between  — 

1919-24 

1925^29 

1930-34 

1935-39 

1 

11 
4 
6 
11 
5 

9 
1 
6 
8 
57 

8 
0 
5 
2 
15 

3 
1 
3 
4 

8 

5 
5 
3 
1 
15 

2  

3 

4  . 

5 

Total  

37 

81 

30 

19 

29 

1  Sale  by  builder  to  original  buyer  omitted. 

ship  for  more  than  20  years;  that  81  were  last  sold  15 
or  more  years  ago;  and  that  another  30  have  not  been 
sold  within  the  past  10  years. 

Sales  Frequency  and  Maintenance 

Except  in  Division  5,  where  comparative  structural 
youth  probably  weights  the  figures,  a  direct  and  uni- 
form connection  between  needed  reconditioning  and 
sales  frequency  appears  to  have  been  established.  If 
judgment  may  properly  bo  based  on  these  figures,  the 
graph  line  of  physical  decline  and  of  ownership  turn- 
over can  be  expected  to  coincide  closely  in  older 
residential  neighborhoods. 


Table  No.  50 

SAI.KS   I'HEQUENCY  AND  MAINTKN  AXCK 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Percent  of 
sales  to 
total 
properties 

Percent  of 
properties 
needing  re- 
conditioning 
to  total 
number 

1 

119 
145 
113 
93 

175 

94 
100 
43 
35 
20 

2  .. 

3 

4    „ 

5 

Sales  Frequency  and  Mortgage  Status 

While  average  sales  frequency  in  the  mortgaged  prop- 
erty classification  exceeded  that  for  clear  property 
throughout  the  District  as  a  whole,  this  showing  is  so 
definitely  contradicted  by  important  divisional  totals  as 
to  suggest  that,  in  Waverly  at  least,  mortgage  status  has 
no  constant  relationship  to — or  influence  on — sales 
frequency. 


Table  No.  51 

SALES  FREQUENCY  AND  MORTGAGE  STATUS 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Total 
sales 

Number 
of  mort- 
gaged 
proper- 
ties 

Percent 
of  sales 
to  mort- 
gaged 
proper- 
ties 

Number 
of  clear 
proper- 
ties 

Percent 
of  sales 
to  clear 
proper- 
ties 

1  

2...     

43 
16 
26 
24 
175 

19 
6 
9 
7 
43 

226 
266 
288 
343 
412 

17 
5 
14 
19 
57 

253 
320 
150 
126 
307 

3 

4...   

5 

Total  .. 

284 

84 

338 

112 

254 

80 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Sales  Frequency  and  Age 

Similarly,  structural  age  is  not  of  itself  reflected  in 
sales  frequency,  as  is  quite  apparent  from  an  examina- 
tion of  table  No.  52. 


Table  No.  52 

SALES  FREQUENCY  AND  STRUCTURAL  AGE 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Average  turn- 
over in  20 
years 

Structural 
age 

1. 

1.  19 
1.45 
1.  13 
0.  93 
1.75 

53 

44 
25 
49 

17 

2 

3        .      . 

4 

5 

ENCUMBRANCES 

Mortgage  Status 

Of  the  196  residential  properties  in  District  A,  43 
percent  are  encumbered.  This  percentage  is  slightly 
higher  than  the  38-percent  figure  for  Waverly  as  a 
whole — possibly  due  to  the  fact  that  approximately 
one-half  the  structures  in  District  A  are  relatively  new. 
The  percentage  of  encumbered  homes  in  the  District 
compares  favorably,  however,  with  the  national  per- 
centage of  56.3  for  mortgaged,  single-family,  owner- 
occupied  residences. 


Table  No.  53 

MORTGAGE    STATUS 

(By  number  of  structures) 

Division 

Number 
of  clear 
properties 

Number 
of  mort- 
gaged 
properties 

Percent 
of  mort- 
gaged to 
total 

1 

17 
5 
14 
19 
57 

19 
6 
9 
7 
43 

53 
54 
39 
27 
43 

2       ......... 

3 

4  

5 

Total  

112 

84 

43 

The  ratio  of  mortgaged  to  unmortgaged  properties  is 
highest  in  Divisions  1  and  2,  both  of  which  comprise 
old,  frame,  single-family  structures,  poorly  maintained. 
It  is  lowest  in  District  4,  which  is  characterized  by 
similar  structures,  of  an  almost  equal  age,  but  well 


maintained.  The  mortgage  status  of  the  two  brick-row 
divisions  is  closely  similar  and  their  rating  is  almost 
identical  with  the  District  average. 

We  now  begin  to  recognize — and  even  to  anticipate — 
a  certain  measure  of  constancy  in  the  relative  positions 
and  relationships  of  the  five  Divisions,  as  the  process 
of  tabulation  and  analysis  proceeds.  It  is  from  repeti- 
tions of  this  type  that  the  general  characteristics  and 
trends  of  a  community  become  apparent  and  the  bound- 
aries of  the  substandard  areas  within  it  (if  any) 
emerge. 

Mortgage  Holders 

At  the  date  of  this  report,  the  Home  Owners'  Loan 
Corporation  held  14  percent  in  amount  and  18  percent 
in  number  of  all  mortgages  on  District  A  property. 
Except  for  one  small  lien  of  $495,  owned  by  the  R.  F.  C. 
Mortgage  Co.,  no  other  governmental  agency  is  recorded 
as  a  district  mortgagee. 

F.  H.  A.  has  insured  58  Title  II  loans  in  the  Waverly 
area,  largely  for  savings  and  loan  associations,  only 
one  of  which  is  on  property  in  District  A. 

Because  of  the  wide  use  of  the  ground-rent  system, 
under  which  construction  mortgages  technically  rank 
as  junior  liens,  life  insurance  companies  make  few  resi- 
dential loans  in  Baltimore.  No  insurance  company 
loans  appear  of  record  in  District  A  at  the  present  time. 
For  the  same  reason,  mortgage  bankers  have  been 
relatively  inactive  in  the  District,  being  recorded  as 
the  makers  of  but  3  percent  of  its  real-estate  loans. 
Participation  by  individual  mortage  investors — stand- 
ing at  12  percent — has  also  been  comparatively  limited, 
for  the  reason  that  the  purchase  of  ground  rents,  in 
some  cases  at  a  substantial  discount  from  a  6-percent 
capitalized  basis,  has  been  considered  a  much  more 
attractive  investment  by  local  capital.  It  is  even 
possible  that  the  notably  low  ratio  of  mortgaged  to 
unmortgaged  homes  in  the  city,  as  contrasted  with 
national  ratios  for  comparative  properties,  reflects,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  secondary  lien  position  of  the  average 
Baltimore  residential  mortgage  and,  on  the  other,  the 
relatively  higher  yield  and  better  security  which  the 
similar  ground-lease  investment  offers. 

Banks,  trust  companies,  and  title  companies  are 
recorded  as  holding  21  percent  in  amount  of  the  District's 
mortgages  and  savings  and  loan  associations,  by  far 
the  largest  holders  as  a  class,  are  credited  with  50  per- 
cent of  the  total.  Of  the  42  savings  and  loan  mortgages 
against  District  A  property,  7  are  held  by  federalized 
institutions. 

State-chartered  savings  and  loan  associations,  of 
which  there  are  some  400  in  Baltimore,  arc  not  subject 
to  public  supervision  of  any  kind  and  frequently  engage 
in  financial  activities  far  removed  from  the  financing  of 
residential  construction  by  means  of  mobilized  savings. 
Many  of  these  institutions,  on  the  other  hand,  carry  on 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


81 


the  type  of  business  indicated  by  their  common  title 
and,  as  their  funds  permit,  willingly  make  residential 
mortgage  loans  up  to  66  percent  of  the  value  of  the 
improvements,  subject  to  ground-rent  prior  liens, 
where  the  additional  security  of  good  moral  character 
and  stable  income  is  also  present. 


Table  No.  54 

MORTGAGE   HOLDERS 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Percent 
of  total 
amount 

Holder 

Num- 
ber 
held 

Percent 
of  all 
mort- 
gages 

Original 
amount 

H.  O.  L.  C.'_    - 

15 
1 

12 
4 

40 
12 

18 

•I 

14 
5 

48 
14 

$29,  947 
495 

46,  755 
6,749 

108,  213 
27,  340 

14 

(2) 

21 
3 

50 
12 

R.  F.  C.  Mortgage  Co. 
Banks,  trust  and  title 
companies  ..   _ 

Mortgage  bankers  
Savings  and  loan  asso- 
ciations 3 

Individuals.  . 

Total.. 

84 

100 

219,  499 

100 

'  Includes  H.  O.  L.  C.  owned  properties.    '  Includes  1  F.  H.  A.  Insured  mortgage. 
1  Less  than  0.5  percent. 

Mortgage  Status  and  Appraised  Value 

Table  55  classifies  all  residential  properties  in  District 
A  by  Divisions  so  as  to  show  mortgage  debt,  depre- 
ciated value,  and  the  ratio  between  the  two.  In  pre- 
paring this  table,  unmortgaged  properties  were  of 
course  disregarded. 


Table  No.  55 

MORTGAGE  DEBT  AND  APPRAISED  VALUE 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Total 
mortgage 
debt 

Total  "as 
is"  ap- 
praised 
value 

Percent 
debt  to 
value 

1 

$35,  628 
8,660 
17,  829 
20,  146 
139,  827 

$61,  800 
27,  800 
78,  700 
100,  950 
390,  350 

58 
31 
22 
20 
33 

2 

3 

4  

5 

TotaL    . 

222,  090 

659,  600 

34 

Division  1  (old,  frame,  badly  maintained)  again  has 
the  least  favorable  rating  in  the  District,  with  its  ratio 
of  1 : 2  of  mortgage  debt  to  the  appraised  value  of  the 
improvements  which  secure  it.  Division  4  (also  old, 


82 


frame,  but  well  maintained)  stands  highest,  with  a  ratio 
of  1:5  of  total  mortgage  debt  to  appraised  value. 

The  District's  combined  showing  of  a  1:3  ratio  of 
encumbrances  to  security  is  a  definite  indication  of  its 
generally  sound  economic  health. 

Mortgage  Status  and  Reconditioning 

A  careful  survey  of  virtually  any  residential  structure 
will  disclose  need  for  minor  current  repair.  Since  such 
repair  usually  involves  a  comparatively  small  expendi- 
ture and  is  generally  completed  without  dangerous 
delay,  its  reasonable  postponement  almost  never 
indicates  a  positive  downward  structural  trend.  In 
preparing  the  following  tabluation,  recommended 
repairs  which  were  estimated  to  cost  less  than  $200  per 
structure  were,  therefore,  considered  as  only  currently 
postponed  and — for  the  purpose  of  this  calculation  I  lie 
affected  properties  were  not  classified  as  being  in  need  of 
reconditioning. 


Table  No.  56 

MORTGAGE  STATUS  AND  NECESSARY 
RECONDITIONING 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Clear  properties 

Mortgaged  properties 

Num- 
ber of 
units 

Recon- 
dition- 
ing re- 
quired ' 

Per- 
cent 

Num- 
ber of 
units 

Recon- 
dition- 
ing re- 
quired ' 

Per- 
cent 

1 

17 
5 
14 
19 
57 

9 
5 
0 
5 
1 

53 
100 
0 
27 
2 

19 
6 
9 
7 
43 

8 
6 
0 
1 
0 

42 
100 
0 
14 
0 

2 

3 

4 

5 

TotaL  _ 

112 

20 

18 

84 

15 

18 

1  Includes  only  properties  on  which  repairs,  etc..  costing  more  than  $200  have 
been  recommended.    For  detail,  see  table  No.  36. 

Analysis  developed  several  interesting  facts  relating 
to  the  structural  status  of  mortgaged  and  unmortgaged 
properties.  The  low  and  identical  over-all  percentage 
of  all  mortgaged  and  clear  homes  needing  major  re- 
conditioning clearly  indicates  that  no  general  "property 
milking  process"  is  under  way  in  the  District.  It  is  also 
clearly  evident  that,  in  similar  structural  types,  the 
need  for  reconditioning  is  not  related  to  mortgage  status. 
Within  each  Division,  the  percentage  of  clear  and 
mortgaged  properties  needing  major  repairs  arc  prac- 
tically identical,  but  as  between  the  Divisions  them- 
selves ratios  varied  greatly.  Neighborhoods  in  which 
old  frame  structures  predominate  ranged  from  14 
percent  of  needed  repair  in  Division  4,  to  100  percent  in 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY 


Division  2.  Of  the  123  brick  row  houses  in  Divisions 
3  and  5,  only  one  unit  was  found  to  require  major 
reconditioning. 

Mortgage  Status  and  Age 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  age  and  mortgage  status 
have  little,  if  any,  relationship,  at  least  in  District  A. 
Division  1  which,  structurally,  is  the  oldest  in  the  Dis- 
trict, makes  one  of  the  two  least  favorable  showings  of 
mortgaged  to  unmortgaged  houses — 57  percent.  Divi- 
sion 4,  next  in  age  and  in  all  ways  similar  to  Division  1 
except  that  it  is  well  maintained,  makes  the  best 
showing  in  this  respect,  with  but  27  percent  of  its  homes 
encumbered.  Comes  then  Division  2 — likewise  com- 
prising frame  houses,  as  badly  maintained  as  Division  1 
and  of  about  the  same  age  as  Divisions  1  and  4 — with  a 
mortgage  ratio  of  54  percent,  putting  it  at  the  very 
bottom  of  the  list. 

That  age  plus  a  high  degree  of  disrepair  encourages 
a  high  mortgage  ratio  and  that  age  plus  a  high  degree 


Table  No.  57 

MORTGAGE  STATUS  AND  STRUCTURAL  AGE 

(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Number 
of  struc- 
tures 

Average 
age  of 
struc- 
tures 

Number 
mort- 
gaged 

Percent 
mort- 
gaged 

1 

36 
11 
23 
26 
100 

53 
44 
25 
49 
17 

19 
6 
9 
7 
43 

53 
54 
39 
27 
43 

2 

3 

4 

5          .    .: 

Total 

196 

30 

84 

43 

of  maintenance  encourages  a  low  mortgage  ratio,  may 
be  concluded  from  an  examination  of  table  No.  57. 

Foreclosures 

Information  concerning  foreclosures  during  the  years 
1919-39,  was  obtained  from  the  records  in  the  Baltimore 
City  Hall  and  Courthouse. 

District  A's  total  foreclosure  record  of  13  percent  for 
the  20-year  period  which  includes  the  1929-39  decade, 
indicates  a  sound  community  economic  condition  par- 
ticularly when  it  is  contrasted  with  the  best  available 
national  estimate  of  16.7  percent  for  the  past  14  years. 
Within  the  District,  Division  4  shows  the  lowest  ratio 
of  foreclosed  to  total  mortgaged  properties,  as  might 
have  been  expected  of  an  old  established  and  well  main- 
tamed  neighborhood  hi  which  occupancy  is  compara- 
tively constant.  The  record,  however,  does  not  permit 
wholly  conclusive  interdivisional  deductions,  because, 
in  part  at  least,  entirely  accurate  figures  on  this  impor- 
tant subject  were  impossible  to  obtain  from  the  City 
Hall,  for  the  reasons  given  on  page  21  of  this  report. 


Table  No.  58 

FORECLOSURES 
(Residential  structures  only) 

Division 

Number 
of  mort- 
gaged 
prop- 
erties 

Number 
of  fore- 
closures 
1919-39 

Percent 
of  fore- 
closures 
to  mort- 
gages 

Average 
age  of 
fore- 
closed 
prop- 
erties 

Average 
age  of 
all  prop- 
erties 

1 

19 

0 
9 

7 
43 

1 
3 
1 
0 
6 

5 
47 
11 
0 
14 

49 
47 
27 
0 
17 

53 

44 
25 
49 

17 

2 

3 

4 

5.- 

Total..- 

84 

11 

13 

29 

30 

NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


83 


APPENDIX  B 


FINANCING  SOURCES 

First-Mortgage  Investors 

Approximately  60  percent  of  the  residential  struc- 
tures in  Waverly  are  free  of  all  encumbrance.  In  gen- 
eral, these  properties  are  eligible  as  security  for  long- 
term,  monthly  payment,  first  mortgages,  in  amounts  at 
least  sufficient  to  cover  the  cost  of  the  reconditioning 
which  the  Master  Plan  recommends  for  them. 

The  existing  loans  on  the  approximately  40  percent 
of  homes  in  the  Area  which  are  encumbered  can  fre- 
quently be  refunded  with  a  new  mortgage  which  will 
cover  not  only  the  unpaid  balance  on  the  old  lien  but 
will  also  include  the  amount  of  the  cost  of  rehabilita- 
tion. 

Because  of  the  generally  low  ratio  of  lien  to  security, 
mortgages  of  either  type  should  attract  investment  by 
local  banks,  mortgage  bankers,  savings  and  loan  asso- 
ciations, and  individual  investors.  Only  if  the  cost  of 
the  repair  program  is  considerable,  however,  will  the 
incidental  expense  of  a  complete  refinancing  operation 
of  this  nature  be  warranted. 


F.  H.  A.  Title  II  Insured  Mortgages 

The  Federal  Housing  Act  authorizes  the  insurance  of 
long-term  first  mortgages  on  existing  residential  struc- 
tures and  such  insurance  can  be  used  to  enhance  the 
marketability  of  eligible  mortgages  of  either  of  the  two 
types  described  above. 

Local  Savings  and  Loan  Associations 

Officers  of  these  associations  have  stated  that,  if  the 
Area  seriously  undertakes  the  contemplated  conservation 
program,  they  will — as  a  matter  of  sound  business  pol- 
icy— increase  any  current  mortgage  which  they  hold, 
by  an  amount  sufficient  to  finance  the  cost  of  recondi- 
tioning its  security — and  that,  in  so  doing,  they  will 
extend  the  final  maturity  date  of  the  mortgage, 
so  as  to  leave  the  amount  of  the  monthly  repayment 
installment  undisturbed. 


F.  H.  A.  Title  I  Insured  Loans 

Under  the  amending  act  of  June  3,  1939,  the  Federal 
Housing  Administration  continues  Title  I  modernization 
loan  insurance  until  July  1,  1941.  The  maximum  per- 
missible financing  cost  that  may  be  charged  against  the 
borrower  may  not  be  in  excess  of  an  amount  equivalent 
to  $5  discount  per  $100  original  face  amount  of  a  1-year 
note,  payable  in  12  equal  monthly  installments.  The 
maximum  amount  of  any  one  loan  so  insured  is  $2,500 ; 
the  maximum  repayment  period  for  repair  loans  is  3 
years  and  32  days;  and  the  lending  institution  is  now 
required  to  pay  an  annual  premium  charge  of  three- 
fourths  of  1  percent  on  the  net  proceeds  of  any  loan 
reported  for  insurance.  Loans  may  be  secured  by  se- 
nior or  junior  mortgage  or  may  be  evidenced  by  the 
unsecured  note  of  the  borrower.  The  act  contains  no 
provision  for  the  payment  of  "prevailing  wages"  in 
connection  with  loans  insured  under  Title  I. 

Loans  may  be  made  for  alterations,  repairs,  and 
additions  to  existing  building,  including — 

(a)  Painting,  reroofing,  repair,  reconditioning,  new  stair- 
ways and  floors,  partition  alterations,  heating,  lighting  and 
plumbing  installations,  etc. 

(6)  Conversion  of  an  existing  one-family  house  into  a  multiple- 
family  dwelling. 

(c)  Grading,  landscaping,  sewer  connection,  sidewalk  and 
curb  construction,  etc.,  in  connection  with  the  land  on  which  the 
building  stands. 

The  question  of  the  financial  status  of  the  borrower  is 
left,  as  a  credit  matter,  to  the  reasonable  judgment  of 
the  institution  for  which  the  loan  is  insured. 

Seven  loan  sources. — Seven  possible  Baltimore  sources 
of  Title  I  insured  loan  funds,  in  volume  sufficient  to 
cover  the  aggregate  cost  of  the  home  improvements 
and  embellishment  set  up  in  the  Master  Plan,  were 
examined.  They  included — 

I.  Federal  savings  and  loan  associations. 
II.  State-chartered  savings  and  loan  associations. 

III.  Commercial  banks. 

IV.  Personal  loan  banks. 

V.  Commercial  credit  discount  companies. 
VI.  Insurance  companies. 
VII.  Manufacturers'  finance  units. 


84 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


I.  Federal  savings  and  loan  associations  may  loan 
their  funds  only  to  members  and  only  on  (a)  the 
security  of  the  member-borrower's  share  account;  and 
(6)  the  security  of  a  first  lien  upon  improved  real 
estate1  or  on  a  junior  mortgage,  if  the  association  also 
holds  the  senior  mortgage. 

Under  these  provisions,  so  far  as  the  Waverly 
Conservation  Program  is  concerned,  Federal  savings 
and  loan  associations  can  serve  only — 

1.  The   owner   whose   home    was   previously    unencumbered 
and   whose   new   first   mortgage   would   represent   the   cost   of 
rehabilitation. 

2.  The    owner    whose    property    already    carries    a    Federal 
association  loan,  which  the  lender  is  willing  to  increase  by  means 
of  a  junior  mortgage,  representing  the  cost  of  reconditioning. 

3.  The  owner,  who,  already  having  either  a  Federal  savings 
and  loan  association  mortgage  or  a  non-Federal  mortgage  on  his 
property,   is   willing  to   refinance  his  loan   through   a   Federal 
association,  so  as  to  include  the  cost  of  his  repairs  under  a  new 
first  lien. 

II.  State-chartered    associations. — The     statutes     of 
Maryland  place  virtually  no  limitations  on  the  type  of 
security  in  which  savings  and  loan  associations,  incor- 
porated under  the  laws  of  that  State,  may  invest  their 
funds;  section  165,  code  article  23,  as  amended,  indeed 
makes  specific  provision  for  investment  in  judgments 
and  in  mortgages  of  any  type.     In  addition  to  28  con- 
verted Federal  and  9  insured  State-chartered  associa- 
tions, there  are  in  Baltimore  approximately  400  State- 
chartered  savings  and  loan  organizations  which  are 
legally  able  to  make  uninsured  or  F.  H.  A.  Title  I  in- 
sured rehabilitation  loans. 

III.  Commercial  banks. — Three  of  the  larger  Baltimore 
commercial   banks   have   been   particularly   active   in 
making  F.  H.  A.  Title  I  insured  loans.     Two  of  them 
operate  subsidiary  institutions,  primarily  designed  to 
handle  these  accounts,  and  all  have  already  made  such 
loans  to  Waverly  owners.     The  loan  officer  of  each 
bank  stated  that  his  institution  will  welcome  business 
of  this  type.     While  reasonable  safeguards  are  imposed, 
ordinary   commercial   credit   standards   are   probably 
somewhat  relaxed  in  the  case  of  Title  I  insured  loans, 
pursuant  to  F.  H.  A.  regulations  covering  eligibility, 
which  make  acceptable  "a  reasonable  credit  risk,  in 
view  of  the  insurance  provided  by  the  National  Housing 
Act."     It  may  be  assumed  that  the  three  institutions 
referred  to  will  be  willing  to  consider  applications  for 
advances  to  finance  the  cost  of  at  least  a  large  part  of 
the  private  property  improvements  included  in  the 
Waverly  Master  Plan. 

IV.  Personal  loan  banks. — The  largest  of  the  so-called 
Morris  Plan  banks  has  been  particularly  active  in  solic- 
iting business  of  this  type.     It  advertises  and  actively 
canvasses  for  it  through  a  corps  of  outside  employee 
solicitors,  not  only  among  contractors  but  also  among 

i  Under  present  practice  a  Maryland  mortgage  lien,  subject  only  to  a  long-term 
renewable  ground  lease,  is  classed  as  a  first  mortgage. 


owners  who  intend  to  contract  their  work  or  perform  it 
themselves. 

V.  Commercial  credit  discount  companies. — Two  na- 
tional commercial  credit  discount  companies  advertise 
for  Title  I  business  throughout  the  United  States.     For 
this  purpose,  they  prepare  original  advertising  matter, 
which  they  supply  in  large  volume  to  building  material 
and  equipment  manufacturers,  for  subsequent  distribu- 
tion to  the  latter's  dealers.     They  service  both  manu- 
facturers and  dealers  and  their  facilities  will  thus  be 
available  to  Waverly  owners  indirectly. 

VI.  Insurance  companies. — Since  virtually  none  of 
the  properties  in  the  Area  is  subject  to  insurance  com- 
pany encumbrances,  it  is  not  probable  that  Waverly 
owners  can  have  any  considerable  recourse  to  such 
companies  for  funds  with  which  to  make  repairs. 

VII.  Manufacturers'  finance  units.- — In  order  to  stim- 
ulate the  market  for  their  products,  certain  manufac- 
turers  of   building   material  and  supplies,  having  a 
national  distribution,  have  set  up  finance  units  which 
purchase  customers'  F.  H.  A.  Title  I  insured  notes,  pre- 
viously acquired  by  their  dealers.     The  plan  under 
which  these  units  operate  originally  required  the  con- 
sumer to  use  at  least  25  percent  of  the  proceeds  of  his 
note  to  purchase  the  products  of  the  manufacturer  pro- 
viding the  service.     This  requirement  is  now  being 
relaxed,  however,  both  because  the  retailer,  and  conse- 
quently the  manufacturer,  is  benefited  by  a  less  rigid 
policy  and  also  because  the  financing  operation  is,  in 
itself,  profitable  to  the  latter.     It  is  probable,  therefore, 
that  the  notes  of  home  owners,  otherwise  eligible,  will 
be  increasingly  acceptable  to  these  units,  without  any 
reference  to  the  percentage  of  the  proceeds  devoted  to 
the  purchase  of  materials  and  supplies. 

SECTION  207  OF  THE  NATIONAL  HOUSING  ACT 

Provision  is  made  under  Section  207  of  the  National 
Housing  Act  for  the  insurance  of  4K-percent,  monthly 
amortized,  first-mortgage  loans  to  Federal,  State, 
municipal,  limited  dividend  and  private  corporations, 
and  to  associations  or  cooperative  societies  which  are 
the  legal  agents  of  groups  of  home  owners,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  rehabilitating  slum  and  blighted  areas.  The 
Act  defines  slum  and  blighted  areas  as  those  in  which 
dwellings  predominate  that,  by  reason  of  dilapidation, 
overcrowding,  faulty  arrangement  or  design,  lack  of 
ventilation,  light  or  sanitary  facilities,  or  any  combina- 
tion of  these  factors,  are  detrimental  to  safety,  health, 
or  morals. 

Loans  under  Section  207  may  not  be  for  more  than 
80  percent  of  the  value  of  the  security,  may  not  exceed 
a  total  of  $100,000  under  any  one  mortgage,  and  must 
mature  within  a  period  set  by  the  Administrator. 
Monthly  installment  repayments  must  include  not 
only  accrued  interest  and  a  reduction  of  mortgage 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


85 


principal  but  also  one-twelfth  of  the  annual  cost  of 
mortgage  premiums,  taxes,  fire  and  other  hazard  in- 
surance premiums,  ground  rents  and  special  assess- 
ments, if  any. 

At  least  one-half  of  the  mortgage  proceeds  must  be 
expended  for  the  rehabilitation  of  the  subject  property. 

In  single-family,  residential  neighborhoods  like 
Waverly,  to  become  eligible  for  a  rehabilitation  advance 
under  Section  207,  the  owners  of  at  least  16  residential 
structures  must  transfer  their  titles  to  a  fiduciary  agent 


acting  for  their  common  benefit.  Such  agent  negoti- 
ates the  new  mortgage  loan — on  the  security  of  the 
joint  property — for  an  amount  sufficient  to  extinguish 
existing  encumbrances  and  pay  the  anticipated  cost  of 
rehabilitation;  completes  such  rehabilitation;  leases 
each  property  back  to  its  former  owner;  and,  from  the 
rental  thereafter  from  time  to  time  collected,  makes 
monthly  payments  of  principal,  interest,  taxes,  and 
premiums,  as  stipulated  in  the  over-all  mortgage  instru- 
ment. 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


APPENDIX  C 


PROPOSED   LEGISLATION 

Pressure  for  the  enactment  of  neighborhood  stabiliza- 
tion and  rehabilitation  legislation,  such  as  that  described 
above,  indicates  a  widening  consciousness  of  the  part 
conservation  must  play  in  the  solution  of  the  national 
housing  problem. 

1.  I '/'ban  Redevelopment  Corporations  Act. — The  New 
York  Legislature  recently  enacted  a  bill  which  author- 
izes the  creation  of  "redevelopment  corporations"  in 
that  State.  This  act  is  intended  to  provide  nonspecu- 
lative  investment  opportunities  for  private  capital,  in 
a  new  field,  by  setting  up  a  limited  partnership  between 
these  newly  authorized  corporations  and  municipalities 
in  which  are  depreciated  areas  suitable,  for  rehabilitation. 

It  is  not  a  housing  bill  and  contemplates  no  public 
subsidy,  but  seeks  to  establish  a  mechanism  by  which 
private  corporations  can  rebuild  blighted  urban  areas 
in  harmony  with  their  logical  use.  By  regulating  their 
plans  for  area  development  through  the  local  city  plan- 
ning commission,  and  their  financial  set-up  and  manage- 
ment through  a  municipal  supervising  agency,  the 
measure  would  subject  these  corporations  to  public 
control. 

The  bill  does  not  require  immediate  demolition  and 
reconstruction,  but  permits  gradual  redevelopment  over 
a  period  of  years,  pursuant  to  a  definite,  predetermined 
and  approved  program.  It  recognizes  the  possibility 
that  the  sound  redevelopment  of  a  given  area  may 
result  in  predominantly  commercial  or  industrial  use; 
assumes  that  the  necessity  for  synchronizing  the  re- 
development program  with  the  master  plan  of  the  city 
will  effect  proper  coordination  between  that  program 
and  all  other  housing  projects,  including  public  housing; 
and,  foreseeing  that  a  redeveloped  area  may  properly 
includc  housing  accommodations  in  any  rental  classifi- 
cation, sets  no  rental  limitations  on  the  accommoda- 
tions which  may  be  provided  by  a  redevelopment  cor- 
poration, relying  upon  an  enlightened  management's 
competent  appraisal  of  the  economic  demand  to 
provide  an  adequate  regulator. 

After  a  corporation  has  obtained  control  of  60  percent 
of  the  property  in  the  area  to  be  developed,  measured 


by  assessed  valuation,  it  has  the  power  of  condemnation 
in  assembling  the  balance.  Tax  exemption  may  be 
granted  for  not  to  exceed  10  years,  on  an  amount  equal 
to  the  value  of  the  improvements  made  in  the  area  after 
the  corporation  undertook  the  project.  Dividends  are 
limited  to  5  percent  during  the  period  when  partial  tax 
exemption  is  thus  enjoyed.  Thereafter,  dividends  will 
not  be  limited,  but  any  such  payments,  in  excess  of  5 
percent,  are  subject  to  a  50-percent  city  tax. 

Subsequent  to  its  passage  by  the  New  York  Legisla- 
ture, the  Urban  Kedevelopment  Corporations  Act  was 
vetoed  by  the  Governor,  with  the  recommendation  that 
the  Commission  of  Housing  and  the  New  York  City 
administration,  both  of  which  opposed  this  legislation, 
and  the  real  estate  groups  which  favored  it,  draft  a 
mutually  satisfactory  measure  for  submission  at  the 
next  legislative  session. 

2.  Neighborhood  Improvement  Act. — In  several  States, 
the  legislative  adoption  of  a  statute  generally  referred 
to  as  the  Neighborhood  Improvement  Act,  has  recently 
been  urged  by  organizations  and  individuals  interested 
in  the  control  of  urban  blight.  As  proposed,  the  statute 
seeks  legally  to  implement  that  portion  of  the  "cure  by 
prevention"  remedy,  described  in  this  report,  which 
relates  to  land  use,  street  pattern,  landscaping  and  other 
problems  common  to  all  persons  residing  in  a  given 
neighborhood.  The  text  of  the  proposed  Act  is  given 
below : 

SEC.  1.   Title. 

This  act  may  hereafter  be  referred  to  as  The  Neigh- 
borhood Improvement  Act. 
SEC.  2.  Definitions. 

As  used  in  this  act:  (a)  The  term  "city"  shall  mean 
any  duly  incorporated  city,  town  or  village;  (6)  the 
term  "planning  commission"  shall  refer  to  any  officially 
constituted  board,  body,  commission  or  committee 
normally  charged  with  the  duty  of  preparing  master 
plans  for  orderly  city  development;  (c)  the  term  "gov- 
erning body  of  the  city"  shall  mean  the  city  council, 
board  of  aldermen,  city  trustees,  or  other  body  having 
the  power  to  pass  ordinances  and  resolutions  and  to 
otherwise  legislate  concerning  city  affairs;  (d)  the  term 
"privately  owned  land"  shall  mean  all  land  not  held  by 
governmental  bodies  for  public  purposes. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSER  VA  TION 


81 


SEC.  3.  Method  of  Determining  Neighborhood  Areas. 

The  planning  commission  of  any  city  may,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  the  provisions  of  this  act  available, 
prepare  a  plan  of  the  city  dividing  all  or  part  of  the  city 
into  neighborhood  areas  in  conformity  with  the  official 
city  plan.  A  report  showing  such  division  shall  be  pre- 
sented upon  request  to  the  governing  body  of  the  city 
and  when  approved  by  them  shall  constitute  the  defini- 
tion and  boundaries  of  neighborhood  areas  for  the  pur- 
poses of  this  act:  Provided,  however,  That  no  plan  of 
neighborhood  areas  shall  be  adopted,  nor  shall  any 
individual  neighborhood  area  be  defined  as  hereafter 
provided  until  after  a  public  hearing  in  relation  thereto, 
at  which  parties  in  interest  and  citizens  shall  have  an 
opportunity  to  be  heard.  At  least  fifteen  (15)  days' 
notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  such  hearing  shall  be  pub- 
lished in  any  official  paper,  or  a  paper  of  general  circu- 
lation, in  such  municipality. 

In  a  city  where  no  planning  commission  exists  the 
governing  body  of  a  city  may  adopt  a  plan  of  neighbor- 
hood areas  after  public  notice  and  hearing  as  provided 
in  this  section.  Should  the  governing  body  of  any  city 
fail  to  request  th«  planning  commission  to  prepare  a  plan 
of  neighborhood  areas,  or  should  any  planning  commis- 
sion fail  to  prepare  and  present  such  a  plan  to  the 
governing  body  of  the  city  within  sixty  days  after  having 
been  requested  to  do  so  in  writing  by  the  governing  body 
or  by  five  (5)  percent  or  more  of  the  owners  of  real  prop- 
erty within  the  city  limits,  or  should  the  governing 
body  of  the  city  fail  to  accept  such  a  plan  within  ninety 
(90)  days  after  it  is  presented  to  them,  then  and  there- 
after the  owners  of  twenty-five  (25)  percent  of  the 
privately  owned  land  in  any  area  designated  by  them, 
may  in  writing  signed  by  each  of  them  and  presented 
to  the  governing  body  of  the  city,  bound  and  define  such 
area  as  a  neighborhood  area  within  the  meaning  of  this 
act. 

SEC.  4.  Creation  of  Neighborhood  Area  Development 
Plan. 

The  owners  of  sixty  (60)  percent  of  the  area  of  pri- 
vately owned  land  in  any  duly  constituted  neighborhood 
area  may,  in  writing,  present  to  the  governing  body 
of  the  city  a  plan  for  the  development  and  restriction 
of  such  neighborhood  area.  Such  a  plan  may,  among 
other  things,  provide  for: 

(a)  Zoning  or  rezoning. 

(b)  Improvement  and  alteration  of  major  and  minor 

streets. 

(c)  Parks,    playgrounds,     and     public    recreational 

facilities. 

(d)  Neighborhood  planting  and  landscaping. 

(e)  Location  of  all  public  utilities. 
(/)   Building  restrictions. 

(0)   Progressive  elimination  of  nonconforming  uses. 

In  cities  having  a  planning  commission,  the  governing 
body  of  the  city  shall  refer  such  plan  for  the  develop- 
ment and  restriction  of  the  neighborhood  to  the  planning 
commission  which  must  make  a  report  thereon  to  the 
governing  body  of  the  city  within  ninety  days  after 
receiving  such  plan.  Failure  to  make  such  a  report 
within  that  time  shall  be  deemed  to  constitute  approval 
of  the  plan.  The  governing  body  of  the  city  may  then 
accept  or  reject  such  plan  after  giving  consideration  to 
the  report  of  the  planning  commission,  and  after  public 
hearing  and  published  notice  as  provided  in  section  3 
for  the  plan  of  neighborhood  areas.  When  accepted, 


88 


the  plan  shall  constitute  the  official  plan  of  the  neighbor- 
hood area  involved. 

SEC.  5.  Publication  of  the  Plan. 

Any  duly  adopted  neighborhood  plan  shall  then  be 
published  by  the  governing  body  of  the  city  by  mailing 
a  copy  of  such  plan  to  each  property  owner  residing 
within  the  affected  neighborhood  area,  and  by  posting 
a  copy  of  such  plan  in  several  reasonably  distributed 
public  places  within  such  neighborhood  area. 

Thirty  days  after  such  publication,  such  plan  shall 
become  effective  and  shall  have  the  full  force  and  effect 
of  an  ordinance  or  resolution  duly  enacted  by  the  gov- 
erning body  of  the  city.  It  may  thereafter  be  amended 
and  exceptions  made  to  its  operation  by  the  same  pro- 
cess by  which  it  was  adopted  originally. 

SEC.  6.  Appeal. 

Any  property  owner  in  a  neighborhood  area  for  which 
a  neighborhood  plan  has  been  adopted  may,  within  one 
year  after  the  publication  of  such  plan,  petition  a  court 
having  jurisdiction  over  the  property  involved,  to  stay 
the  execution  or  effect  of  the  plan  as  to  him.  Notice  of 
filing  of  such  petition  shall  be  duly  served  on  the  govern- 
ing body  of  the  city  and  notice  thereof  placed  in  a  news- 
paper of  common  circulation  in  the  neighborhood  area 
involved.  In  the  action  on  such  petition,  the  official 
representative  of  the  city,  and  any  property  owner  in  the 
neighborhood  area  involved  shall  be  entitled  to  be  hoard. 
Should  the  court  decide,  after  hearing,  that  the  plan  is 
unreasonable  as  to  the  petitioning  property  owner,  it 
may  issue  an  order  restraining  the  operation  or  effect 
of  the  plan  as  to  the  petitioning  property  owner.  The 
force  and  effect  of  the  plan  shall  not  otherwise  be  affec- 
ted unless  the  court  shall  affirmatively  find  that  so 
restrained,  the  general  effect  and  force  of  the  plan  is  so 
altered  as  to  make  it  an  undue  variation  of  the  original 
plan  no  longer  able  reasonably  to  accomplish  the  result 
sought  in  the  original  plan. 

SEC.  7.  Execution  of  the  Plan. 

Restrictions  and  regulations  as  to  the  use  of  the  prop- 
erty within  the  neighborhood  area  to  which  any  plan 
applies  set  forth  in  the  plan  shall  apply  and  be  enforced 
within  such  area  in  the  same  manner  as  if  contained  in 
city  ordinances. 

To  the  extent  that  the  plan  calls  for  construction  of 
improvements  or  condemnation  of  private  property, 
the  governing  body  of  the  city  shall  set  its  duly  consti- 
tuted machinery  in  motion  to  accomplish  such  improve- 
ments or  condemnation  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  city 
were  engaging  in  construction  of  improvements  or 
condemnation  of  property  for  any  proper  municipal  pur- 
pose. Benefits  shall  be  similarly  assessed  and  collected. 

SEC.  8.  Organization  of  Neighborhood  Associations. 

In  order  to  provide  an  organization  by  which  property 
owners  in  any  neighborhood  area  may  create  and  amend 
plans  for  neighborhood  improvement  and  otherwise 
avail  themselves  of  the  rights  granted  in  this  act,  such 
property  owners  may  organize  themselves  into  a  neigh- 
borhood improvement  association.  Such  neighborhood 
associations  shall  be  organized  by  filing  with  the  secre- 
tary or  clerk  of  the  governing  body  of  the  city,  a  set  of 
articles  of  organization  duly  signed  by  the  owners  of  at 
least  twenty-five  (25)  percent  of  the  privately  owned 
land  within  the  neighborhood  area  for  which  the  neigh- 
borhood association  is  being  organized.  Such  articles 
of  organization  shall  state: 

(a)  The   name   of   the    neighborhood   improvement 
association. 

WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


(&)   The   boundaries   of   the   neighborhood   area   in- 
volved. 

(c)  The  names  of  the  original  officers  and  trustees  of 
said  association. 

The  officers  of  such  association  shall  consist  of  a  board 
of  trustees  of  five  (5)  owners  of  real  property  within  the 
neighborhood  area  involved  and  a  secretary  and  a  treas- 
urer who  shall  also  be  owners  of  real  property  within 
the  neighborhood  area  involved.  Each  officer  and 
trustee  shall  serve  for  a  term  of  one  year  and  until  his 
successor  has  been  elected  and  qualifies.  Failure  of  any 
officer  or  trustee  to  continue  to  own  real  property 
within  the  neighborhood  area  involved  shall  ipso  facto 
disqualify  said  person  to  hold  office. 

Vacancies  in  any  office  may  be  filled  at  any  time  by 
special  election. 


Meetings  shall  be  held  at  least  once  a  year  and  on 
such  other  occasions  as  the  association  may  agree.  At 
all  meetings  of  the  association,  each  member  shall  be 
entitled  to  a  number  of  votes  bearing  a  proportion  to 
the  total  number  of  votes  set  for  all  members  which  the 
area  of  land  owned  by  him  bears  to  the  total  area  of  the 
land  owned  by  all  of  the  members  of  the  association. 

The  association  may  assess  its  members  to  cover  the 
expenses  of  carrying  on  the  business  of  the  association. 

The  trustees  of  the  association  may,  for  the  purposes 
of  this  act,  sign  papers  for  and  on  behalf  of  all  of  the 
members  of  the  association,  which  signatures,  when  ac- 
companied by  a  certified  copy  of  the  minutes  of  the 
meeting  of  the  association  authorizing  such  signature, 
shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect  as  if  the  papers 
signed  by  the  trustees  were  signed  by  each  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  association  separately  and  individually. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


89 


APPENDIX  D 


STREET  ADJUSTMENTS 

Following  is  a  description,  justification,  and  cost 
estimate  of  the  street  opening,  paving  and  widening, 
conversion  and  closing  embodied  in  the  Master  Conser- 
vation Plan  for  Waverly. 

Drawing  No.  33  shows  the  recommended  ncwstreets; 
No.  34  locates  those  on  which  paving  is  necessary; 
and  No.  35  indicates  the  recommended  street  conver- 
sions and  closings. 

STREET  OPENING 

PROJECT  No.  1.  NEW  STREET — EXTENSION  OF  DUM- 
BARTON AVENUE  FROM  INTERSECTION  OF  PROPOSED 
NEW  SECTION  OF  ELLERSLIE  AVENUE  FOLLOWING  THE 
PRECIPICE  IN  A  NORTHERLY  DIRECTION  ONE  BLOCK 
BEYOND  BELGIAN  AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  To  provide  full  use  of  present  land  without  excess 
amount  of  fill. 

2.  To  avoid  uneconomical  use  of  land  which  might 
seem  difficult  to  build  upon. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  This  opening  will  provide  possible  chance  for  a 
more  harmonious  development  of  semi-detached  homes 
with   an  informal   treatment   to   harmonize  with   the 
already  well  planned  development  across  the  boulevard 
on  Alameda  Avenue. 

2.  It  will  permit  increased  home  site  use  of  a  section 
which  normally  might  be  considered  as  a  back  yard 
treatment. 

3.  It   will   create   increased  land   values,    on    which 
returns  to  the  owner  and  the  city  would  be  greater  than 
if   the  land   was  lying  idle  because  of  its   unusually 
poor  condition. 

C.  Cost  — 

1.  The  cost  of  this  street  opening  including  concrete 
paving,    curbs,  and    gutters,  and    sidewalks  has    been 
estimated   at  $13,000,   exclusive   of  possible  land   ac- 
quisition. 

2.  The  probable  land  acquisition  cost  is  estimated  at 
$8,700  which  is  the  present  assessed  value  for  the  entire 


property  affected  by  this  opening,  and  not  merely  the 
portion  taken.  It  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the 
actual  acquisition  cost  would  be  considerably  smaller 
when  the  value  of  the  remaining  portion  of  land  is 
taken  into  consideration. 

Block    3913-A    and    392H-A — Dumbarton    Ave.    extension   from 
Ellerslie  Ave.  to  one  block  north  of  Belgian  Ave. 

30'    concrete    paving,    curbs,    and 
gutter. 

960'  X 30'  =  3,733  sq.  yd.  at  $3 $11,  200 

9 
1,820  lin.  ft.  of  sidewalk  at  $1..  1,  820 

Construction  cost  of  street 813,020 

Probable  land  acquisition  cost 8,  700 

Total  cost  of  street  improvement,  approximate-   $21,  720 

PROJECT  No.  2.  OPENING  AND  PAVING  OF  ELLERSLIE 
AVENUE    FROM    CATOR    TO    PEN    LUCY    AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  The  need  for  opening  of  this  street  was  originally 
perceived  in    1906,   at  which  time  the  city  recognized 
the  desirability  of  such  action. 

2.  Only    street    now    permitting    through    traffic    is 
Wilsby  Avenue,  a  19-foot  side  street  hardly  ample  to 
care  for  future  traffic. 

3.  Only  outlet  is  three  blocks  west  to  Greenmount 
Avenue.     None  toward  the  east  as  all  eastward  streets 
hardly  can  materialize  due  to  the  contours  of  the  land. 

4.  Necessary  to  have  bus  line  circulate  through  the 
upper  area  north  of  Pen  Lucy. 

5.  To  provide  bypass  to  Alameda  Avenue. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  This  opening  will  more  than  offset  the  construction 
and  acquisition  cost  as  it  will  create  new  frontage  capa- 
ble of  caring  for  approximately  18  structures. 

2.  It  will  be  beneficial  to  both  owners  of  adjacent  land 
as  well  as  to  the  city  because  of  better  assessment  re- 
turn for  new  frontages  created. 

3.  It  makes  for  a  logical  connection  of  the  street  sys- 
tem south  of  Pen  Lucy  Avenue  now  contemplated  by 
private  builders. 

4.  It  also  permits  the  use  of  otherwise  hemmed -in 
properties  now  lost  assets  to  the  owners  and  a  burden 
to  the  city. 


WAVERL\~A  STUDY  IN 


C.  Cost.— 

1.  Cost  of  construction  of  new  and  paving  of  old 
portion  of  the  street  (includes  grading,  concrete  paving, 
curbs,   gutters,   and   necessary   utilities)    is  estimated 
at  $13,440. 

2.  The  value  of  the  first-class  usage  that  this  frontage 
produces  should  more  than  offset  the  cost  of  this  street. 


RECOMMENDED  STREET  OPENINGS 


Drawing  No.  33 


3.  The  probable  land  acquisition  is  estimated  at 
$25,260,  which  is  the  present  assessed  value  for  the 
entire  property,  and  not  merely  the  portion  taken.  It 
is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  actual  acquisition  cost 
would  be  considerably  smaller  when  the  value  of  the 
remaining  portion  of  the  land  is  taken  into  consideration; 

Paving—  Block  3925-  A 

a.  Ellerslie   Ave.   from    Cator   Ave.    to 

Belgian  Ave.  30'  paving. 
6.  30'  paving,  curb,  and  gutters. 


$4,  915 


=  1|865  gq    yd  at 

$3  ___________  $4,095 


820'  new  sidewalk  at  $!. 


820 


Total  cost  of  construction $4,  915. 

New  Street— Block  3923-A 


a.  Ellerslie    Ave.    from    Dumbarton    to 

Cator  Ave.  providing  a  30'  street. 
6.  30'  paving,  curb,  and  gutters. 

375>QX3Q:  =  1.250   sq.   yd.   at 

$3   $3,750 

750'  of  sidewalk  at  $1 750 

375' of  sewer  at  $2.50 937 

Total  cost  of  construction 5,  437 

c.   Land  acquisition  approximately $9,  760 

Total  cost  of  street 15,  197 

New  Street— Block  3922 

a.  Extension    of    Ellerslie    Ave.     from 

Dumbarton  to  Pen  Lucy  Ave. 
6.   3.0'  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters. 

215'X30'  =  717  gq  yd  at  $3_  $2)  151 
y 

430'  of  sidewalk  at  $1 430 

215' of  sewer  at  $2.50 537 

Total  cost  of  construction 3,  118 

c.   Land  acquisition 15,  500 

Total  cost  of  street 18,  618 

Total  construction  cost  for  project 

No.  2... 13,  470 

Total  land  acquisition  cost  project 
No.  2 ....  25,260 

Total  cost  of  project 38,730 


PROJECT    No. 
STREET  FROM 


3.     OPENING    OF    THIRTY-SEVENTH 
OLD  YORK  ROAD  TO  GREENMOUNT 
AVENUE 

Priority  B 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  The  need  for  opening  of  this  street  was  originally 
perceived  in  1906,  by  the  G.  W.Bromley  Survey  at  which 
time  the  city  recognized  the  desirability  of  such  action. 

2.  Adjoining  streets  to  the  north  and  south,  viz., 
Thirty-sixth  and  Thirty-eighth  Streets,  do  not  permit 
through  traffic. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


91 


3.  East  and  West  streets  in  Waverly  are  laid  out  on 
an  irregular  basis,  which  does  not  allow  direct  access 
to  the  car  line  on  Greenmount  Avenue. 

4.  Due  to  the  irregularities  of  the  entire  minor  street 
pattern,  the  main  north  and  south  feeder  for  the  area 
(Old  York  Road)  is  of  little  value  as  it  affords  only 
one-way  traffic  north  and  is  too  narrow  to  care  for  two 
ways  unless,  of  course,  parking  could  be  taken  off  the 
street. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  This  street  opening  would  afford  a  direct  bypass 
between  Greenmount  Avenue  and  Ellerslic  Avenue. 

2.  It  divides  the  block,  which  at  the  present  time  is  of 
unusual  length. 

3.  It   makes   a  logical   connection   with   the   street 
system  west  of  Greenmount  Avenue. 

4.  It  creates  valuable  new  frontage  for  the  area  that 
is  located  in  the  interior  of  the  block. 

5.  It  will  result  in  an  increase  in  the  city's  income. 

C.  Cost.— 

1.  Cost  of  constructing  this  street,  including  grading, 
concrete  paving,  curbs,  gutters,  sidewalks  and  utilities 
is  estimated  at  $5,500,  exclusive  of  land  acquisition. 

2.  The  value  of  the  usable  frontage  developed  should 
offset  a  considerable  portion  of  the  above  cost. 

3.  The  probable  land  acquisition  cost  is  estimated  at 
$35,000  which  is  the  present  assessed  value  for  the 
entire  areas  of  properties  affected  by  this  opening,  and 
not  merely   the  portion   taken.     It   is  reasonable   to 
expect  that  the  actual  acquisition  cost  would  be  con- 
siderably  smaller  when    the   value  of   the   remaining 
portion  of  the  land  is  taken  into  consideration. 

New  Street — Block  4048-A 

a.  37th  Street  frcm  Old  York  Road  to 

Greenmount  Avenue. 
6.  30'  paving,  curb,  and  gutters. 

500^X26'  =  1)500  gq  yd  at  $3 $4   -00 

9 

450'  of  8"  sewer  at  $2.50 1,  125 

1,000'  of  sidewalk  at  $1 1,  000 

Total  cost  of  construction $6,  625 

c.   Land  acquisition .   35,800 


Total  cost  of  street $42,  425 

PROJECT  No.  4.     OPENING  or  FRISBY  STREET  FROM 
EAST  THIRTY-THIRD  STREET  TO  BELGIAN  AVENUE 

Priority  A 
A.  Necessity. — 

1.  The  need  for  the  opening  of  this  street  was  orig- 
inally recognized  in  1906  by  the  G.  W.  Bromley  Survey, 
at  which  time  the  city  officially  recognized  the  desira- 
bility of  such  action. 

2.  In   1914,  further  consideration  was  given  by  the 
city  to  open  Frisby  Street  from  East  Thirty-third  to 
Thirty-fourth  Street,  by  J.  W.  Shirley,  chief  engineer  for 
the  Topographic  Survey  Commission. 


3.  In  1926  the  city  proposed  and  acquired  land  for 
the   opening   of   Frisby   Street   from    Thirty-third    to 
Thirty-fourth  Street,  but  to  date  no  action  has  been 
taken  as  to  construction  of  same. 

4.  The  population  growth  in  this  area  has  more  than 
exceeded  the  predictions  for  1940  as  shown  in  the  Olm- 
stead  report  of  1926. 

B.  Advantages, 

1.  This  street  opening  will  afford  a  complete  servic- 
ing of   the    entire   section  of  Waverly  between   East 
Thirty-third    and  Cold  Spring  Drive,  and   take  care 
of  the   traffic   congestion   on   Greenmount  Avenue,  as 
well  as  the  confusion  on  Old  York  Road  where  traffic 
is  routed  only  "one-way"  north. 

2.  This  project  could  hardly  be  considered  a  dis- 
turbance to  the  adjacent  property  owners  as  no  build- 
ings are  fronting  on  this  street  except  in  two  places 
where  new  construction  will  occur. 

3.  Frontage    is    added    in    two  locations  which  will 
prove  beneficial  to  the  city. 

C.  Cost  — 

1.  Cost  of  construction  for  the  opening  of  this  street, 
including  grading,  concrete,  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters 
and  sidewalks  plus  any  sewers  that  may  be  necessary 
is  estimated  at  $26,580  exclusive  of  land  acquisition. 

2.  The  increased  value  to  the  entire  neighborhood 
should  more  than  offset  the  cost  of  this  street. 

3.  The  probable  land  acquisition  cost  is  estimated  at 
$73,940  which  is  the  present  assessed  value  for  the 
entire   property,   and   not  merely   the  portion   taken. 
It  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the.  actual  acquisition 
cost  would  be  considerably  smaller  when  the  value  of 
the  remaining  portion  of  the  land  is  taken  into  con- 
sideration, and  particularly  those  sections  where  the 
values  will  be  increased. 

New  street — block  4053  and  4050-B— 
Frisby  St.  from  33d  St.  to  35th  St. 
(30-foot  street) 

a.  Paving,    curb,    and    gut- 
ters, 2,800  sq.  yd  at  $3-.$8,  400 

6.  Sidewalks,  1,680  sq.  ft.  at 

$!._  .__      1,680 


Total  cost  of  construction $10,  080 

Land    condemnation    proceedings 

between  34th  and  35th  Sts 

Total  construction  and  land__ 


$13,  000 


$23,  080 


New  Street — Block  3921-B 

a.  Extension  of  Frisby  St.  from 
Chestnut  Hill  to  Parkwyrtli 
Ave.  30'  roadbed,  curbs,  and 
gutter. 

260' X 30' 

-  =  867  sq.  yd.  at 

$3 $2,601 

520'  of  sidewalk  at  $1..  520 


92 


WAVERLY— A  STUDY  IN 


Total  cost  of  construction $3,  121 


PAVING  AND  WIDENING 


6.  Land  acquisition $7,100 

Total  cost  of  street  improve-  PROJECT   No.  1.  VENABLE  AVENUE— PAVING  FROM 

mcnt--  -  $10' 221          OLD  YORK  ROAD  TO  ALLEY  WEST  or  WESTERWALD 

_A  VF'NTTP' 

New  Street — Block  3921-A 

a.  Extension  of  Frisby  St.  from  Park-  Priority  A 

wyrth  to  38th  St.  30'   roadbed, 
curbs,  and  gutter.  A.  Necessity  — 

2urjx30'  1.  This  street  paving  will  permit  proper  utilization 

A       —  /uu  sq.  vu.  JIL  . 

$3 $2,100  of  the  abutting  properties  now  standing  vacant. 

420' of  new  sidewalk  at  $1_        420  2.  Necessary  to  relieve  traffic  congestion  now  pre- 
vailing upon  east-  and  west-bound  Thirty-third  and 

Total  cost  of  construction..  2,520                                         Thirty-fourth  Streets. 

6.  Land  acquisition.  _  9,300                                   T>      ... 

T,  ,  B.  Advantages. — 

Total  cost  of  street  improve-  .            , 

inent._  11,820  1-    ^  his  will  provide  possibilities  of  additional  new 

structures  to  individual  landowners'  benefit  as  well  as 

Paving— Block  3919  and  3920 —  ,,         ., 

,,.,£,.  to  the  city. 

Frisby  St.  J 

2.  It  will  prove  beneficial  to  the  entire  neighborhood 

a.  Resetting    of    property    lines   and  for  several  blocks  around, 

paving   between    Wyanoke  and  O    /"*    •/ 

TI  T  .  X_v"  .       t/OSt . 

Pen  Lucy  Ave.  .... 

1.  I  he  cost  of  this  improvement  has  been  estimated 
6.  30'  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters.                                                                  to  be  $10  100. 

OQO'  -y  On' 

=  1,275  sq.   yd.  2.  This  cost  will  more  than  be  offset   by  the  addi- 

Q+      'C*^  Q'i       S*?~ 

tional  return  to  the  city  created  by  this  improvement. 
764   new  sidewalk  at  $!__         764 

Total  cost  of  construction __  4,  589..  4,  589  Block  tfBO—Venable  Ave.— To  Be  Paved  From  Old  York  Rd.  to 

New  Street— Block  39%%  Alle1J  West  "/  W^sterwald  Ave. 

a.  Extension     of     Frisby     St.     from  24'  PavinS-  including  curb  and  gutters. 

Wyanoke  to  Dumbarton  Am  1,947  sq.  yd.  at  $3.  _  .$5,841 

1,462  lin.  ft.  of  sidewalk  at  $1 1,  462 

b.  30'  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters. 

22j>'X3(V_  Construction  cost  of  street .   $7,303 

9  '^3'  '    £2  250  Land  proceedings  for  relocation  of  street. .  2,800 

Total  cost  of  construction.  _  2,  250 

Total  cost  of  improvement $10,  103 

c.  Land  acquisition 16,860 

Total  cost  of  street  improve- 
ment   19,110          PROJECT  No.  2.  PAVING  AND  WIDENING  OF  CHEST- 
NUT HILL  AVENUE  FROM  OLD  YORK  ROAD  TO  FRISBY 
New  street — clock  SaHS  _ 

STREET 
a.  Frisby    St.    from    Dumbarton    to 

Cator    Ave.,    providing    a    30'  Priority  A 

street. 

A.  Necessity. — 

''  soVxso"'8'  C'  L  The  paving  and  widcninS  have  bcm  recognized 

— g —  =1,000  sq.   yd.  by  the  city    and   official    condemnation  plot  for    the 

iit  $3 .  t!>3,  000                                                                   ...                          . 

-„,    . .       ,,  widening  prepared. 

600'  sidewalk  at  $1 bOO 

2.  W  ill  accelerate  greatly  the  demand  for  new  con- 
Total  cost  of  construction 3,  600                                     struction  on  that  street. 

c.  Land  acquisition. .  27,  680  ^  S*rfet  nOW  Onlv  18  feet  wide  tO  become  26  feet" 

Total  cost  of  street  improve-  15-  Advantages  — 

ment__  31,280  I.Will  increase  the  city's  and  owners'  income  by 

means  of  rapid  development  along  the  abutting  prop- 

Total      street      improvement  erties  on  that  streeti 

cost..  20,160                                                c    Cost_ 

Total   probable    land    acquisi- 
tion cost..  73,940                                   rne  cost>  °'  tuls  paving  lias  been  estimated,  in- 

Total  cost  of  street  improve-  eluding  curbs,  gutters,  concrete  paving  and  sidewalk 

ments.-  .   100,100           at  $5,040. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


93 


Block  404-9-B— Chestnut  Hill  Ave.  From  Old  York  Ed.  to  Inter- 
section of  Frisby  St. 

480'X26' 


9 


-=1,360  sq.  yd  at  $3 $4,  080 


960'of  sidewalk  at  $1. 


960 


Total  cost  of  paving $5,040 

PROJECT   No.   3.    PAVING   OF   WYANOKE    AVENUE 

FROM  OLD  YORK  ROAD  TO  EAST  BLOCK   OF  WILSBY 

AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  Entire  street  in  quite  poor  condition;  macadam 
surfacing,  no  curb  and  gutter,  sidewalk  very  poor. 

2.  Street  has  not  been  maintained  for  some  time. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  The  improvement  of  this  street  will  greatly  accel- 
erate the  furtherance  of  ownership  improvements  which 
in  turn  will  be  beneficial  to  the  city. 

C.  Cost.— 

1.  The  "cost  of  this  paving,  widening  curbs,  gutters, 
sidewalk  and  concrete  paving,  has  been  estimated  at 
$8,900. 

Wyanoke  Avenue 

24'  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters. 

904' X  24' 
— g =  2,366  square  yards,  at  $3 $7,  098 

1,808'  of  sidewalk,  at  $1 1,808 


Total  cost  of  paving $8,  906 

PROJECT  No.  4.  PAVING  OF  DUMBARTON  AVENUE 

FROM  |  ALLEY    EAST   OF   WILSBY   AVENUE    TO    NEW 

INTERSECTION  OF  ELLERSLIE  AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  This  section  has  never  been  paved,  thus  retarding 
the  growth  tremendously. 

2.  It  will  only  be  useful  providing  Ellerslie  Avenue 
is  extended  to  Pen  Lucy  Avenue. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  The  improvement  of  this  street  will  create  in- 
creased values  to  the  abutting  "properties,  thus  creating 
an  additional  income  to  the  City. 

C.  CosL- 

1.  The  cost  of  paving,  including  curbs,  gutters,  and 
sidewalks,  has  been  estimated  at  $4,276  and  will  more 
than  be  offset  by  the  increased  use  of  otherwise  idle 
land,  giving  no  return  to  the  owners  as  "well  as  to  the 
city. 

Block  S92S-A— Dumbarton  Ave. 
24'  concrete  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters. 

428'  X  24' 
'— g =1,140  square  yards,  at  $3 $3,  420 

856'  of  sidewalk,  at  $1_.  856 


Total  cost  of  improvement $4,  276 


PROJECT  No.  5.  PAVING  OF  CATOR  AVENUE,  EAST 

FORTY-FIRST  STREET,  AND  BELGIAN  AVENUE,  150  FEET 

EAST  OF  ELLERSLIE  AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  To  facilitate  immediate  improvements  of  abuttin 
properties. 

2.  At  present  Cator  and  East  Forty-first  have  poo 
surfacing  and  need  new  paving. 

3.  Belgian  Avenue  at  present  unimproved  at  this 
point. 

B.  Advantages  — 

1.  This  will  provide  possibility  for  additional  utiliz 
tion  of  land  in  a  remunerative  way,  both  to  the  own 
and  the  city. 


RECOMMENDED  STREET  PAVING 


Drawing  No.  34 


94 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


j.   .ij* 


2.  The  possibility  of  creating  a  more  modern  com- 
munity life. 

C.  Cost  — 

1.  The  cost  of  this  improvement  has  been  estimated 
at  $4,950,  which  will  more  than  offset  the  increased 
value  to  the  abutting  properties  as  well  as  to  the  sur- 
rounding area  and  to  the  city. 

Hclgian  Avenue 

a.  30'  paving  150'  east  of  the  corner  of  Ellerslie 
Ave.     Concrete  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters. 

b    1  50'  ~X  SO' 

—  0  —  —  =  500  sq.  yd.  at  $3  ____        .   $1,500 

150'  of  sidewalk  at  $1  _________  150 

Total  street  paving  ______  .   $1,650 

East  41st  Street 

a.   30'  paving  150'  east  of  the  corner  of  Ellerslie 
Ave.     Concrete  paving,  curl's,  and  gutters. 

^-^      =  500sq.  yd.  at  $3_-  -$1,500 


150'  of  sidewalk  at  $1. 


150 


Total  street  paving 1,650 

Cator  Avenue 

a.  30'  paving  150'  east  of  the  corner  of  Kllerslie 
Ave.     Concrete  paving,  curbs,  and  gutters. 

'°-  =  500sq.  yd.  at  $3-.  _   $1,  500 


9 
150'  of  sidewalk  at  $1. 


150 


Total  street  paving 1,  650 


Total  cost  of  improvement.-  -   $4,950 

STREET   CONVERSIONS 

PROJECT   No.   1.  CONVERSION  OF  WILSBY  AVENUE 
FROM  CATOR  TO  WYANOKE  AVENUES 


Priority  C 


A. 


1.  Too  narrow  for  two-way  traffic,  only  19  feet  wide. 
As  parking  is  permitted  on  both  sides  of  the  street,  it 
is  impossible  for  other  cars  to  pass  there. 

2.  Street  and  curb  in  need  of  repairs  and  it  is  not  a 
through  north-bound  street. 

3.  Danger  to  children  playing  in  the  street  between 
parked  cars. 

B.  Advantages.  — 

1.  As  the  distance  between  present  houses  amounts 
to  89  feet  face  to  face,  it  will  provide  an  excellent  park 
strip  between   these  homes  open   to  pedestrians  only. 

2.  The  servicing  of  the  existing  homes  to  be  done 
through  the  rear  alleys. 

3.  This  will  create  ideal  play  and  sitting-out  areas 
for  both  young  and  old  people,  and  particularly  safe 
for  the  children  of  the  preschool  age,  permitting  proper 
supervision  by  their  mothers. 


4.  This  proposal  will  also  help  to  ease  the  present 
lack  of  play-space  facilities  in  tins  section. 

5.  It  will  also  help  toward  creating  a  better  neighbor- 
hood; thus  will  become  an  increased  asset  to  the  city. 

C.  Cost.— 

1.  Conversion   cost   of   this   street,   which   includes 
proper  grading,  additional  new  concrete  walks,  neces- 
sary catch  basins  for  proper  drainage  and  landscaping, 
is  estimated  at  $3,000. 

2.  The  sociological  value  to  the  individual  owners  as 
well  as  to  the  city,  particularly  from  a  health  stand- 
point, should  more  than  offset  the  construction  cost  of 
this  conversion. 

3.  The  cost  of  resurfacing  of  the  present  street  with 
some  possible  widening  would  be  greater,  yet  of  no 
value  to  this  section,  and  the  chance  for  a  better  com- 
munity court  would  be  lost  to  the  abutting  property 
owners  and  their  children. 

Block  S022-A 

a.  Wilsby  Ave.  from  Wyanoke  to  Dumbarton 
Ave.  Provide  park  strip  for  pedestrian  use 
only. 

6.   252/9X3°'  =  831  sq.  yd.  at  $1.70..--  -   $1,412 

Block  3f>23 

a.  Wilsby  Ave.  from  Dumbarton  to  Cator  Ave. 
Provide  park  strip  for  pedestrian  use  only. 

6.    -  — g —  -=960  sq.  yd.  at  $1.70 1,  632 

Total  construction  cost $3,  044 


PROJECT  No.  2.    CONVERSION  OF  LOWNDES  AVENUE 
FROM  WYANOKE  TO  PEN  LUCY  AVENUES 

Priority  C 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  In  very  bad  need  of  new  paving  but  of  little  value 
to  the  neighborhood. 

2.  Creates  a  traffic  hazard  due  to  its  steep  grade, 
particularly  in  the  wintertime. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  This  conversion  would  give  the  owners  a  much 
more  desirable  frontage. 

2.  Will  create  sitting-out  park  area  for  the  owners  in 
this  block. 

3.  Will  create  play  space  for  the  preschool  children 
in  the  block,  free  from  the  hazard  of  traffic. 

C.  Cost.— 

1.  Cost  of  conversion  of  this  street,  including  addi- 
tional sidewalks,  landscaping,  proper  drainage  facilities, 
is  estimated  at  $3,000. 

2.  On  the  other  hand  the  cost  of  repairing  pavement 
and  sidewalks  has  been  estimated  at  $4,000.     From  a 
community  life   standpoint,   however,    the    conversion 
would  be  of  far  greater  advantage  to  the  owners. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


95 


Block  S9ZO 

a.  Provide  park  strip  for  pedestrian  use  only. 
6.  Landscaping,     sidewalks,    and     necessary     drainage 

facilities. 
252'X40'=l,120sq.  yd.  at  $2.68 $3,000 

n  ___ . 

Total  cost  of  street  conversion,  approximately $3,  000 

STREET  CLOSINGS 

PROJECT  No.  1.    CLOSING  OF  WESTER WALD  AVENUE 
FROM  THIRTY-FOURTH  TO  THIRTY-FIFTH  STREETS 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity  — 

1.  This  street  is  located  between  two  play  areas, 
closed  most  of  the  time  to  provide  safe  play  for  the 
children. 


RECOMMENDED  STREET  CONVERSION 
AND  CLOSING 

Drawins  No.  35 


2.  Playground  used  all  day;  in  the  morning  by 
school,   afternoon  by  the  Playground  Athletic  League 
for  supervised  play. 

3.  Present  playground  large  enough  for  boys  but  not 
adequate  to  provide  space  for  girls'  play  at  the  same 
time.     Girls  play  in  the  street  when  closed  off. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  The  closing  of  this  street  will  provide  adequate 
play  space  for  the  girls. 

2.  It  will  remove  the  hazard  for  play  purposes  of 
drivers  uninformed  of  the  practice  of  closed  streets. 

3.  It  will  unite  playground  facilities. 

C.  Cost.- 

1.  The  cost  of  closing  this  street  involves  a  sum  of 
$600  for  closing  proceedings  by  the  city. 

PROJECT  No.  2.    CLOSING  OF  TINGES  LANE  FROM 
THIRTY-FOURTH  STREET  TO  VENABLE  AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  This  lane  is  at  present  nothing  more  than  an  open 
path,  not  paved,  yet  occupies  land  which  could  have 
better  use. 

2.  Necessary  to  be  closed  in  order  to  unite  present 
properties  and  to  omit  having  too  much  land  for  street 
and  alley  use  which  in  time  will  prove  cumbersome  to 
the  city. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  With  the  closing  of  this  lane  the  adjacent  owners 
will  receive  half  each  of  the  present  land  now  used  for 
Tinges  Lane  or  approximately  1,200  feet  which,  in 
accordance  with  the  land-use  restriction,  permits  the 
owner  to  broaden  his  future  construction  activities, 
thus  creating  a  future  income  to  the  city. 

C.  Cost.— 

1 .  The  cost  of  closing  procedure  upon  the  city  would 
be  about  $1,000. 

PROJECT  No.  3.    CLOSING  OF  PEN   LUCY  AVENUE 
BETWEEN  OLD  YORK  ROAD  AND  ELLERSLIE  AVENUE 

Priority  A— Block  3921 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  This  short  strip  of  street  creates  a  natural  traffic 
hazard. 

2.  Essential  that  the  block  be  united  in  order  to 
provide  better  future  establishment. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  The  closing  of  this  street  will  permit  a  future 
establishment  in  one  unit  to  cover  entire  block  which 
will  prove  quite  beneficial  to  city,  as  well  as  to  the 
neighborhood. 

C.  Cost.— 

1 .  The  cost  of  this  closing  has  been  estimated  at  about 
$600. 


96 


WAVERLY—A  STUDY  IN 


PROJECT   No.   4.    CLOSING    OF     BELGIAN   AVENUE 
EAST  FORTY-FIRST  STREET  AND  CATOR  AVENUE  FROM 
150   FEET   EAST   OF  ELLERSLIE   AVENUE    TO    INTER- 
SECTION   OF   ALAMEDA   AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  To  provide  better  utilization  of  land  due  to  the 
present  grade  condition. 

2.  At  present  projected  streets  not  constructed. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  The  omission  of  these  streets  will  permit  owners  to 
develop  their  land  to  its  best  use. 

2.  It  will  be  a  valuable  saving  to  the  city  from  the 
standpoint  of  expense  for  the  construction  of  the  pro- 
jected  street  proper.     The  necessary  grading  would 
prove  prohibitive  hi  cost,  as  well  as  detrimental  to  ad- 
jacent properties  which  would    be    left    considerably 
below  the  crown  of  the  street.     This  would  necessitate 
expensive  fill  and  virtually  rebuilding  adjacent  land 
before  any  kind  of  construction  could  commence. 

C.  Cost.- 

1.  Preparation  of    an  administrative  order  for  the 


omission  of  these  streets  from  the  main  or  city  street 
plot  constitute  the  entire  cost. 

2.  The  present  utilities  now  located  in  the  street  will 
more  than  take  care  of  the  future  need,  and  there  will 
be  no  need  for  any  relocation  of  same. 

PROJECT    No.    5.  CLOSING    OF    CENTRAL    AVENUE 
FROM  CATOR  AVENUE  TO  NEW  EXTENSION  OF  DUM- 
BARTON AVENUE 

Priority  A 

A.  Necessity. — 

1.  Street  not  paved  and  has  no  connection  with  other 
streets  except  a  possible  by-pass  between  Cator  and  Pen 
Lucy  Avenue. 

2.  With  the  through  connection  of  Ellerslie  Avenue 
this  street  is  not  needed. 

B.  Advantages. — 

1.  This  closing  will  result  in  valuable  distribution  of 
present  land  and  tax  returns  to  the  city  will  be  increased. 

C.  Cost.— 

1 .  The  possible  cost  of  closing  procedure  to  be  encum- 
bered upon  the  city  will  be  approximately  $1,000. 


NEIGHBORHOOD  CONSERVATION 


97 


tttUP 


ill